Another Place To Fall
by destiniex
Summary: SSHG - I've ignored DH - It was only a book, a simple book, but what she found when she'd opened it turned her world upside down. what will the past bring into her life? and will it help her in the end?
1. Where Secrets Hide And Who They Find

DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

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Chapter One: Where Secrets Hide And Who They Find

Hermione was in the library at Grimauld place with Ginny researching. Harry had decided to tell Ginny about the Horcruxs after Hermione had accidentally slipped up one evening from exhaustion, and lack of sleep. He had told Ginny that they was looking for 'any information' that might lead to Voldemort's Horcruxs, or tell them exactly what the other Horcruxs were. Ginny had been utterly confused for the two days that followed about the whole thing, but she had eventually got her mind around it and agreed to help Hermione by taking some of her work load so she wouldn't 'die from books', as the boys had so delicately put it.

So here they were looking for anything on dark magic, or more specifically the soul in connection to dark magic. They were surrounded with dark books, after all they were in the house of black, but very few had been of help and the others were just too scary to even dream of opening.

"Hey Ginny have you found anything new? Or that might be of any interest, at all?" Hermione shouted behind her where she knew Ginny stood a few rows back consumed with her own fruitless search.

"No." she heard her sigh. "If truth be told I'm beginning to think that there's nothing here. Maybe we're just looking in the wrong place. Perhaps we should go to Hogwarts? If Dumbledore left some clue behind then he'd obviously keep it someplace safe and there's no place safer than Hogwarts." Ginny shouted back to her. Hermione raised her eyebrow at that last statement.

"The last person who said that died in Hogwarts by hand of a death eater" She whispered sadly to herself. "I don't think he would have left anything there Gin, that's the problem. Dumbledore must have known that no matter what happened we wouldn't have returned to Hogwarts this year, unless we absolutely had to." She returned defeated eyes back to the shelves that stood in front of her; even Hermione could get sick from the sight of books, after doing nothing but look at them for three weeks non-stop.

"There just has to be something we've missed or over looked." She mumbled to herself just as she noticed something strange in the corner of her eye. She grabbed a hold of the book; it looked old but new at the same time. It didn't have a title or any marking on it, she felt compelled to open it but the rational part of her mind told her not to.

"Ginny come and look at this," She handed the book to Ginny as soon as the girl came round the corner. "What do you reckon it is?" when she saw Ginny smile she felt a little disappointed.

"It's called 'Il libro di memorie'"

"Book of Memories? I've never heard of that before" Ginny nodded to her.

"I'm not surprised, not many people use these anymore. They're more of a pureblood thing. When they are used they normally hold a person's deepest secret or darkest memory. They can only be opened by the person who has placed the memories in it or the person who's intended to see them. If I remember correctly the memory is stored in a little bottle that is kept in the pages, it's a good hiding place." Ginny and Hermione's eyes meet and they could both see worry with an underlying curiosity in each others.

"Mum and dad have one." She continued as she turned the book over in her hands. "Fred and George think that it contains their 'dirty secrets'." She finished with a shudder and an embarrassed blush creeping up to her cheeks.

"Oh." Hermione said after a moment of silence, feeling rather put off of wanting it opened.

"Yes well they aren't very commonly found in people libraries, maybe it's empty. If it's not then I don't rely want to find out what secrets the house of black has to offer." When Ginny handed it back to her something clicked in her brain.

"Ginny maybe this is what we're looking for, it might not be the blacks at all but Dumbledore's. He knew we would wind up in here sooner or later. Come on let's see if we can open it." Ginny was looking at her like she was crazy and firmly shook her head.

"I don't think so Hermione, it's a bit farfetched. The man wasn't exactly one for subtle things like this." Ginny said and pointed to the book. "You can try to open it if you like, but I'm going to get some lunch, I'll be back up with some for you as well if you'd like?" Slightly angry Hermione said she would like that and walked over to a table with the book in hand. She watched as Ginny walked out the library's door before she looked at the book again, she was going to try and open it regardless of what Ginny said. Sitting herself down in one of the over-stuffed armchairs she placed the book in her lap. She stared at it for about a minute lost in her own amazement of the book, and what it could hold inside, before finally running a finger along the open edge and trying to lift the cover. It didn't move an inch.

"Come on open. I swear to Merlin if this book isn't what I'm looking for then I give up, I've had enough." She whispered to herself bitterly on the brink of tears from exhaustion. "Open." She let out a long heavy breath that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding as she watched the cover lift with her hand. Finally something was going right. A smile spread across her face and her tired eyes lit up with happiness. Just like Ginny said the bottle was inside the pages where a square had been cut out to wedge it in. Hermione's dainty hands pulled the bottle from the pages and wrapped around the bottle. Removing the book from her lap she placed it on the table and noticed that there was a note on the inside of the cover. She frowned as she read it out to the silence around her.

**"In war you'll find a time of peace,  
With the loss of others comes new release,  
A beginning of new life,  
A beginning without strife,  
You'll wash away the old,  
To reveal that which is untold."**

Her fingers moved to trace the picture that had been drawn just below the words. It showed a big black cat and a thunderbird intertwined. To Hermione this seemed like an odd couple but they seemed to weirdly fit together somehow, like they were going to be together no matter what tragedy befell them. When she took her finger off the two creatures words started to appear next to them. She'd know that penmanship anywhere, She'd had it scrawled all over her work for 6 years, and that's what made her worried.

**"Trust in the promise I made you"**

She snorted at that but then realised her writing was beginning to show below his. But that was impossible, she'd never even seen this book before, let alone written in it. It made her feel uneasy and scared, she unconsciously clutched tighter to the bottle that was still in her left hand.

_**"The secrets you hold are still meant to be untold; you'll know when to look when you pass through the fold."**_

She mumbled to herself, afraid of what that was to mean. Looking down to the vile in her hand she saw it glowing blue, before the panic could set in she slipped from consciousness.

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**Author's Notes**- Just so everybody knows I absolutely despise doing the first chapter of any story, so that's probably why it seems to drag on with nothing rely exciting happening. Plus I'm about 2 seconds away from passing out because I can't sleep. Anyways action chapters are where my skills lie, so I promise I'll write some good things soon :)  
If nothing is making sense yet then it's because it's not meant to.

Next chapter up Sometime tomorrow. And thank you for reading.  
Hugs and love Destiniex

P.S. Review if you want to.


	2. Trusting The Unknown

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ All characters and settings are the property of __**J.K Rowling**__. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world._

**Chapter Two: Trusting the Unknown**

The morning sunlight was slowly creeping in through the window illuminating everything in its wake. Hermione awoke to the feel of this sunlight's heat tickling her skin. She mumbled something incoherent and tried to swat it away with her hand, having no energy she gave up after one failed attempt. She was lying in somebody's bed; she knew it wasn't hers from the lumpy feel of it. Groaning she pushed herself up to rest against the headboard, she rubbed her tired eyes with the back of her hands then opened them. She could tell she wasn't in her room, but she was definitely still at Grimauld Place.

Looking around she noticed the small bookshelf with very few books on it, the posters that clung to the walls had girls and various Quidditch players on them. The small couch on the opposite wall had a coffee table sat in front of it, it looked somewhat out of place due to its clean nature. As she looked down at the bed she was currently sitting in something seemed to click in her mind. She was in Sirius's room. She quickly scrambled out of the bed to stand up but as soon as her feet hit the floor she collapsed with a scream and landed in an ungraceful heap. She stayed there for a moment with her hand over her mouth. Nobody ever went in Sirius's room, not after his death, what on earth would posses her to come in here? Come to think of it she couldn't even remember walking in here, the last thing she remembered was a book in her hands. There was something she was forgetting, something important. The image of a big black cat and a thunderbird intertwined entered her thoughts, and then it all seemed to hit her at once. The notes that were written in a cryptic message, the bottle that held somebody's memories and it glowing blue, then the distant feeling of panic.

Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the door behind her open. With a creak a tall boy slipped into the room with a smirk on his face, when he spoke her entire body froze up.

"What are you doing on the floor? Aren't you cold?" He asked looking at her attire. She could recognise that voice anywhere even if it did sound lighter hearted than she remembered. No amount or order training could have prepared her for this moment.

"It's ok Hermione. You're just hallucinating or dreaming." She said to herself closing her eyes and expecting to wake up in the library again. When she opened her eyes she was still in the same room with the boy now standing in front of her. She was paralyzed and helpless to do nothing but stare at his boots, hoping against hope that she hadn't finally cracked under the stress of late.

"Is that your name? Hermione?" She was silent enough to hear him breathing. She nearly started to cry from the pain that was in her heart as she watched his hand appear in front of her to help her up. They were plump and full of youth, nothing like the skinny wrinkled ones she remembered.

"That's a very pretty name. Here, let's get you off the cold floor, you must be freezing." She shakily brought her hand up to catch a hold of his and she felt him pull her entire body up so she was standing in front of him. He was smiling at her, a genuine smile. She'd forgotten how friendly he was and how he made you feel safe, just by being in the same room as you. She could feel herself giving him a small sad smile back as she looked at his youthful big eyes and perfectly kept hair. It struck her so surreal that she was seeing him how he was, it didn't seem real but regardless of reality or not she wasn't going to pass up the chance to just be with him. She took a slow unsteady step forward, then ran at him full force and flung her arms around him in a fierce embrace; she cried into his shoulder and whispered into his ear

"Sirius."

She could feel that he was hesitant at first but when she began to cry hysterically she felt strong arms close around her body as he held onto her tightly. She could faintly hear him saying something to her trying to comfort her, but it was blurred out due the pounding of her own heart in her ears and the uncontrollable thoughts that were telling her _'He's real. You're actually holding onto a dead man' 'This should be Harry's moment, not yours'_.

When she felt him rub small circle onto her back she started to calm down and her sobs subsided to short ragged breaths; which would catch in her throat every now and then. She could smell his scent clinging to his clothes. He smelt of fresh air and something that she could vaguely place as cooked food. She smiled to herself as he pulled away from her to look into her eyes.

"Oh you poor thing, look at you. I don't know why you're so upset to see me. Though I must say it's not the first time a girl has cried my name and flung herself at me." He said jokingly to her. She smiled at that and let out a small laugh, she remembered Sirius telling her one evening that he had been quite the player in his youth. She could see why, even through blurry eyes he was quite handsome.

"Let's get you sat down and you can tell me who you are, and how you seem to know me. I certainly can't remember meeting you before." He took her arm, led her to the couch and sat her down.

"Wait here, I'll get you a blanket." he went to look inside his closet for one. She looked down at herself and realized that she was only wearing an overly large tee-shirt; she guessed that it belonged to him. She felt a blush creep to her cheeks as she realised that her legs were bare from mid thigh downwards.

"Got it" Sirius said to himself and pulled out the blanket and closed the closet door. He walked over to Hermione and spread out the blanket and gave it to her.

"Here you go it's really quite cold in here. Sorry about your clothes but I wasn't going to let you sleep in jeans and a jumper. You've been asleep for two days, I would have been worried that you were in a comma, but you woke up every now and then for about a minute then passed out again." Hermione took in what he had said. Her mind was in a state of complete panic, but she just nodded at him with a blank look on her face.

The logical side of her brain was in overdrive running through protocols and plans, assessing the situation and devising the best course of action. This was how she had been trained to think when it came to unsafe situations, but there was a larger part of her that just wanted to grab every part of the boy and never let him go. This part of her overrode every defensive tool at her disposure and yet she found herself at a loss of what to do. her mind was in dead lock.

After a moment of awkward silence he sat down on the opposite end of the couch facing her and crossed his legs over one another.

"Hermione isn't it?" She nodded.

"I'm Sirius Black, but you already seem to know that." He said raising an eyebrow. She nodded again. A silence lingered in the air for a moment before he tried to make some conversation.

"Do you know how you got here?" she tried to remember but she couldn't, she just remembered the book.

"No. Do you?" She asked confused. Sirius was slightly taken back by the question and was hesitant to answer. He knew he was going to sound crazy but she seemed to be very trusting of him so he would trust her.

"I was in the library a few days ago when I got up to get a book, for this summer project at school, and when I came back there you were. It was quite scary actually; you were just sitting in the chair silently and had a big bruised cut on your forehead." He explained and she brought her fingers up to her head and lightly grazed the half healed bruise and winced in pain.

"I tried to heal it and it worked a little, I've never been very good at healing charms sorry." She gave a small smile and he continued his story

"Anyway I couldn't just leave you there and you didn't exactly look dangerous, which makes a difference to everybody else in this house, so I just put a quick concealment charm on you and smuggled you up to my room. You've been in my bed ever since." He finished with a cheeky little smirk on his face and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh I almost forgot." he said to nobody in particular and she watched him jump up and walk over to his bookshelf to get something from it.

"You had this with you. I have no idea what it is, it doesn't even open." He saw something cross through her eyes that looked like fear, but it was gone in the next second. She quickly took the book from him and held it tightly in her hands. When she spoke what she asked him took him by surprise.

"It's the summer holiday right?"

"Yep, it's the last day today. Tomorrow we go back to school." He replied happily, and slightly more confused than he had been before.

"That means I can go to Hogwarts with you. I can talk to Dumbledore; he'll know what to do." What she said had just caught up with her brain. Dumbledore, she was going to have to stay strong if she was going to see him; she didn't think she could take breaking down in front of him too.

"Wait a minute, how do you know I go to Hogwarts? Why would you want to come with me? I'm guessing you're about my age but I've never seen you at Hogwarts before." He said in a more forceful voice that wasn't calm anymore.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously. Hermione was split if she should tell him or not. She decided on giving him very vague answers, it would have to do for the moment; she couldn't risk getting herself into a whole heap of lies or truths before she had some real time to assess the seriousness of this predicament.

"Hermione Granger. I need to talk to Dumbledore about my … situation. I'm going to be starting at Hogwarts this year. I'm new here." Half truths would have to suffice. She was just hoping that he wouldn't ask about why she was in his house and how she got there. They were questions she honestly couldn't even begin to answer. She gave him a small hopeful smile and pleaded at him with her eyes. He seemed to relax some and moved off the couch to the door. She couldn't believe how trusting he was. She wondered if it was Azkaban that had made him so cautious of unknown people in the future, or if it was just the war in general. Surely the war had started by now and he was just leaving her alone in his room, she could be anybody and he still trusted her. That thought was somewhat unsettling but she was also glad for it.

"I'm going to get some food. I'd be surprised if you weren't starving, I'll get you some too."

"That would be great. Thank you." She said shyly.

"Feel free to move around and get comfy. Oh and your wand is under the pillow you were laying on." He said to her before he stepped out the door. The distinct smell of warm cooked food was starting to creep its way upstairs and into the room. It was only when Hermione felt her tummy trying to eat its self that she realised just how hungry she in fact was. Pushing the thought of food to one side she jumped off the couch and scattered towards the bed. She threw the pillows on the floor and saw her wand exactly where Sirius said it would be, under the pillows. She grabbed it and clutched it to her chest like her very life depended on it.

This was going to be hard.

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**Author's Notes**- It had to be done. There was no way I could make this chapter more interesting, but the next chapter will be at Hogwarts and shall be fun.  
Oh and I'm really sorry if there's any spelling mistakes, my eyes just look at everything telling my brain that the words are spelt right after a while of reading it over and over.

Same as yesterday... next chapter will be up tomorrow sometime; it might be a bit later because I've got a lot of things to do beforehand.  
Hugs and love Destiniex

Thank you for the reviews. Click the button below if you so wish to.


	3. Suspicions

DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

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**ChapterThree: Suspicions**

Hermione and Sirius sat in a comfortable silence around his bedroom table while they ate the roast chicken, gravy and potatoes that he had brought up. It was now late evening so she kept thinking to herself that she only had a few hours before she could get to Dumbledore. She hoped that he had some answers for her about this whole mess that she currently found herself a part of.

"So how old are you Hermione? You look about my age but you somehow seem to be older. I can't put my finger on it." Sirius asked her as he finished his dinner and wiped his mouth with his napkin. He knew that she was hiding things from him. There were major flaws in what little story she had told him, but he wasn't going to push her.

"I'll be 18 in a few months." She said delicately avoiding the whole seeming older bit. Of course she seemed older, if you grow up with war around you then you have to grow up fast, especially if your Harry Potters best friend. But she couldn't exactly tell him that now could she.

"Ah, so you'll be in my year. Don't worry I'll take you under my wing and show you the ropes. You'll get the special treatment if you're with me." He said cockily and puffed out his chest proudly. She rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, I think." She replied to him.

"Um, when does the train leave tomorrow?" she asked trying to sound clueless, though she already knew the answer. The train always left at 11 A.M, no matter what decade one might find them self in.

"11 A.M, so there's no need rush in the morning. Oh and about that, I'll have to sneak you out of here, nobody knows that you're here and I don't particularly feel like explaining it, and I'm guessing you don't either. My family isn't exactly the type to let in strangers." He gave her a half hearted smile; it made her heart hurt for the boy that sat before her.

"That's fine; I wouldn't exactly take lightly to some stranger in my house either. Could I take a shower please Sirius? I haven't had one for two days." Laughing he replied with a nod and she got up walked across the room and went through the door she knew led to his bathroom.

"It's through there, but you obviously already know that." He said to the closed door she had walked through. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the empty plates sending them back downstairs.

He found himself sitting down on the couch and thinking about what could have happened to the girl that was currently showering in his privet bathroom. She must have been through something frightening or disturbing for her not to remember how she got in his house. He could tell from the way she acted around him that she was comfortable with him and trusted him. But he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Hopefully once she had seen Dumbledore she might tell him what had happened.

**-Break-**

Hermione awoke the next day wishing she had never gone to sleep at all. She had been dreaming fitfully all night and she now had a headache to go along with the feeling of anticipation that she couldn't shake.

She got dressed while Sirius was downstairs doing god knows what, but from the sound of all the bangs and muffled shouting she guessed it couldn't be good. She walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror at her reflection. Her hair was a mess this morning, she looked like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards, scratch that, she looked like a girl who had been dragged back 20 years and had hardly slept a wink all night due to nightmares of seeing Sirius Black fall and disappear through the veil. She shook her head pushing them thoughts to one side; she didn't need to re-live her terrors in her waking hours as well as her sleeping ones. Grabbing the hair band that was around her wrist she tied her hair up into a tight ponytail.

The door was pushed open forcefully and slammed back shut as Sirius came in muttering to himself, she was sure she'd heard him swear at every other word. Hermione come out of the bathroom and up to Sirius, she could see he was visible upset.

"Hey Sirius calm down, what's up?" she asked him and placed her hands on his shoulders, effectively stopping him from pacing and making a hole in the floor. He turned angry eyes on her and when he spoke it was with pure hate.

"I can't wait till that old hag kicks it and is out of my life. She's always in my face about everything. If it isn't about my friends then it's about her friends and joining them, I wouldn't go near them unless it was to permanently damage the sick bastards." She knew straight away what sort of 'friends' his mother had, so she didn't interrupt him and didn't stop him from saying that he'd like to permanently damage them, that would make her the world's biggest a hypocrite.

"As soon as I can leave this place, I'm gone. I don't care is she cuts me out of the family fortune; I don't want anything to do with this bunch of maniacs." His eyes seemed to soften and when he spoke again his voice was full of defeat.

"I'm sorry Hermione; you wouldn't believe what my family are like and what they do. It's just hard to believe in what they believe in and they don't understand that it's wrong. You don't even know what I'm talking about do you? I'm sorry. We should get going in a minute the others are meeting us at the train station." She certainly knew what he was talking about but now wasn't the time to say. She turned sad eyes on him, she'd never known how much the rest of his family affected him, he never talked about it in the future, she truly felt that he deserved better.

"Others?" She asked feigning ignorance.

"Oh I forgot to tell you that we are meeting my friends at the station, you'll love them I promise. Not as much as me but that's neither here nor there." He said smugly giving her a wink. She just rolled her eyes and nodded; it seemed that this boy and his cheekiness would be the death of her. He took out his wand and pointed at her and muttered and invisibility charm. Grabbing a hold of Sirius's arm, so he knew where she was, she followed him down the stairs. Along with Regulus Black, Sirius younger brother, she grabbed a hold of the port key which was to take them to the station.

She felt the familiar tug but it was gone in a second and she found her feet firmly on the ground once again. She noticed Regulus looking around and when he caught sight of a group of males he just walked off towards them, without a word to Sirius.

"Bye Reg, see you in school" Sirius shouted to him only to be given a glare from the boy over his shoulder, Sirius shook his head the turned to walk towards the train. He froze mid stride and turned to where he knew Hermione was standing and whispered to her.

"Oh Merlin, what am I going to do? Oh great she's spotted me, and oh Merlin she's coming over here. Help me Hermione." He pleaded. She raised an invisible eyebrow at him and turned to see a blond haired girl coming towards them. He was scared … of a girl! She burst out laughing but quickly sobered up when she heard something close to a banshee shriek.

"Sirius Black!" Sirius narrowed his eyes towards Hermione and then turned back to face the girl.

"Alyson, how have you been? Had a good summer holiday?"

"Yes thank you, no thanks to you. Where was my owl Sirius? You said you would write and we could meet up. Not one single owl. That's the last time I wait around for you, we're finished. Do you hear me Black? FINISHED!" The girl finally finished screeching and slapped him hard on the cheek. Hermione watched this Alyson girl turn around on her heals and storm off, putting a little too much sway in her hips for Hermione. Sirius just stood there stunned but relieved look on his face.

"Wha-" She didn't get to finish her question as she was interrupted by 3 boys running towards them laughing their heads off.

"That was classic Padfoot. After three years you've finally got rid of that tramp and all it took was for you to ignore it." Said the tallest one who she knew must be James because he looked exactly like …

"Harry." She whispered to herself so quietly that nobody with human hearing could hear her above the crowd around them. But apparently it wasn't quiet enough for the boy with sandy blond hair, his tired but youthful eyes turned to face the exact point she was standing and her breath caught in her throat. He looked so different, there were no deep scars on his face, not a grey hair on his head and he looked as strong as a brick wall. She couldn't believe this boy would grow up to be the man she knew, they were so different. She nearly reached out her hand to touch the boys face but restrained herself when she realised where she was. It also didn't help that Remus had taken a defensive step backwards. Sirius had apparently noticed his friend and herself tense up.

"Remus trust me, it's fine." He grabbed his friends arm and shook his head. Remus seemed to calm down somewhat and gave her one last look before smiling trustfully at Sirius.

"Guys, let's go get on the train I have something I want to show you." Hermione rolled her eyes at him; she wasn't some possession to be showed off to his friends. Snatching her hand away from his arm moodily she followed after him and got ready for the assault of questions. She knew there was no avoiding them this time.

Once the four boys were sat down she sat next to Sirius. He had left a space next to him for her.

"So what's the –"

"Who is she Padfoot?" Remus asked quickly in a dangerous tone interrupting James's question.

"She a friend of mine, we can trust her." He replied just as quickly and she was grateful that he was defending her.

"How do you know her? Why is she here on the train with us? I've never meet her before." He pointed to where she was sitting, though nobody else could see her. Hermione thought it was quite rude to talk about her as if she wasn't in the compartment, when she knew that the both of them knew very well that she was.

"Whoa, hold up you two. What on earth are you talking about, there's nobody there Remus." James said cutting through the argument and the tension that was building.

"Sirius, you need to take the charm off me, they can't see me." She said to the boy sitting next to her who was glaring at the boy opposite him, obviously forgetting that he hadn't took the charm off her. She watched everyone jump at her voice, even Remus. Peter, who she had avoided looking at so far, was sitting in the corner spluttering; he looked disgusting.

"Sorry Hermione." He took out his wand and muttered the counter spell

"_Finite Incantatum._ Everybody this is Hermione Granger, she's my friend and she's new to Hogwarts this year." Silence descended upon the cabin until Remus reached out his hand to her. She thought this was weird seeing as how a moment ago he was arguing about him not knowing her and why she was here. She knew that his suspicious nature would serve him well though, so she didn't mind.

"Hello, I'm Remus Lupin" she took his hand and gave him a warm smile that he returned.

The others introduced themselves; she shook James's hand but just gave a curt nod in the direction of where Peter sat. The rest of the journey was simple and not many questions were asked about her, which she was grateful for. She realised that it was amazing how close they were. Just because Sirius trusted her, his friends automatically did as well; but then again she knew that trust could be easily misplaced. Her eyes wondered over to peter for a moment but she felt sick just looking at him; so she didn't for the rest of the ride. She sat back on the comfort of the padded seat and listened to the others catch up on their summer holiday. Her mind was nagging at her asking whether or not she should tell Dumbledore everything or just what was necessary. How do you decide if you should tell somebody when, where and how they are going to die?

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**Author's Notes-** I know, I know! But it had to be done. I know I promised Hogwarts but I wasn't ready to write that today, so the next chapter Hogwarts!  
Same as last time about spelling mistakes... Just tell me where they are and I'll fix them. Sorry, I'm so crap and too tired to look.

Review (Click the button. Any criticism good or bad is appreciated.)  
Next chapter maybe tomorrow maybe not, it'll be a long one and I might not have time to type it up in just a few hours (I get distracted by MSN too easy.)

Hugs and love Destiniex


	4. Castle Full of Ghosts

DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

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Chapter Four: Castle Full of Ghosts

By the time that the train came to stop in the village of Hogsmade Sirius, Remus, James and Peter had all gotten changed into their school uniforms, they had chucked her out of the compartment for twenty minutes to do so. They were now all getting off the train Remus ahead of her and as soon as Hermione steeped outside she heard the giant voice of Hagrid. She turned towards where the little first years were standing in front of him in awe. He wasn't as bushy as she remembered him but it was still hard to see his face underneath it all. When she started to walk with the others again she smiled to herself, happy that some things never changed.

They reached the carriages in a few long strides. She stopped dead when she saw the winged horses that were pulling them. Nobody else could see them; they were all just walking past them as if they weren't there at all. She felt a chill go down her spine, but she was somewhat comforted by the fact they were ignorant to them. Nobody should have to witness death at their age; they should still be in their bubbles of happiness and innocence. Hermione knew if she had the chance to have hers back she would claw her way to it.

"You ok?" Remus asked, placing his hand on her shoulder, when he caught her looking at the front of the carriage.

"Yes, I'm fine" she answered, more for her own piece of mind rather than his. She thought it was strange how even though she was in the past she could still see the Thestral's. She supposed death was death, no matter what time you're in. She turned and nodded to him wishing inside that some things could change.

Hermione quickly followed the others into the carriage. Sirius and James were talking quietly but animatedly, and every now and again she heard her name and saw them point in her direction. She just ignored them and kept to herself trying to calm her mind, preparing for what was to come.

When the carriage arrived they all piled out of it and ran up to the main doors, trying to escape the rain that had started to fall during the carriage ride. As soon as she felt her feet touch the marble floor she felt two hands on either side of her pushing her away from the direction that the other witches and wizards were heading.

"We're taking you to see Dumbledore." Sirius said from her right.

"There's about fifteen minutes before the sorting feast starts, so he should still be in his office." James finished for Sirius from her left. She nodded and just let them lead her all the way there. After all to them she didn't know her way around the castle. When they reached it Dumbledore was just coming down. Hermione's fist immediately balled up at her side, from the pressure of trying to restrain the tears that were building up in her eyes. The old man smiled at the two boys then looked at her and spoke.

"Ah my dear, I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting before. I would remember somebody as pretty as you." They locked eyes and he gave her a sad smile as if sensing her distress.

"It's such a shame that we sometimes find ourselves having the world on our shoulders isn't it? Especially for someone so young." He placed a strong hand on her shoulder, it looked so different from the last time she saw it. No longer was it mangled and burnt looking, it was wrinkly and pink just how it should have been.

"Come into my office dear. You must have travelled a long way to see me; I only hope I can be of help." She nodded and let the man take her up the stairs. She was so engrossed in just making her legs walk up the steps that she didn't notice the significant look he gave Sirius. Nor did she see Sirius turn to James and tell him he would come to the hall with Hermione in a little while.

Hermione took a seat in front of Dumbledore. The padded seat seemed to wrap around her body and it comforted her, not a whole lot but it still helped. The man waved a bowl of sweets in front of her and she took one, it tasted like apple. She had always thought that he had kept them sweets in his office to keep the students from breaking down crying, and now she knew she was right. Sweets rely could sooth your soul.

"I think we should start off by introducing ourselves. Don't you?" she nodded and he continued. "I'm Albus Dumbledore, headmaster here at Hogwarts"

"Hermione Granger. I've came here to talk to you about something but I'm not quite sure how you're going to take it or how to tell you." She said then gave a nervous chuckle, thinking she must sound like an idiot. Something moving caught the corner of her eye but she thought it might be best to let it be and see how things would unfold.

"I often find that when trying to explain something to a complete stranger they don't understand fully what I'm trying to tell them. Maybe you should tell me just the basics and then we can fill in the blanks when we have more time than at present." Hermione listened; it was so good to hear his voice, even if it wasn't in the best of circumstances. She took in a deep shaky breath and began to tell him what he had asked for.

"I'm not from this time, that is to say, I'm from the future. Twenty years in the future in fact. I don't know how I got here, well I kind of do, but it's complicated. I know it sounds crazy and impossible but it's true. I don't know what else to say. I had to come to see you. You always used to say that "help shall been given at Hogwarts, all you need to do is ask." Well here I am asking for your help." She waited for a moment while he processed her ramblings.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger, forgive me but I have to ask you, you understand these are dark times. How do I know I can trust you?" The sparkle in his eyes had died down when he had asked. She was slightly hurt by the question, but knew he was right. What reason did he have to trust her? She did the only thing she could think of; she pulled her jumper down at her neck to reveal the phoenix tattoo that resided on her collar bone. She watched as Dumbledore's eyes widened in something akin to shock or fear, maybe a mix of both. He took in a breath and brought his eyes up to hers. What he said shocked her to her core.

"I'm so sorry Miss Granger, purity of the soul is a very delicate thing and it seems it has been torn away from you... by me." Shame crossed his face and made him look as old as he probably was. A heavy silence seemed to come between the two before she spoke in a quiet whisper.

"You didn't take it from me. We choose to take that path, it was the only way we could have the information we needed in order to help." It was the truth, he was dead when she had taken that oath to join the order and scared her soul with the same magic Voldemort used to mark his followers. She felt his eyes turn to her bent head but she couldn't meet his questioning gaze. He seemed to gather as much so moved on.

"Perhaps we should continue this at a later time. For now how about we go down to the feast and get you sorted along with the other new students." At this her head snapped up. She' hadn't realised she'd have to sorted again. She got up and walked over to the corner and grabbed a hold of something or more accurately somebody.

"Come on Sirius, You would make a horrible spy, I saw you as soon as I'd told the headmaster my name. We'll talk about this later." With a huff coming from the boy she was dragging he took the invisibility charm off himself and they walked in silence to the great hall. Dumbledore was a few steps behind them a worried look on his face wondering what this could mean for the future if the order was taking on children as young as the girl walking in front of him. It would be a sad day for Wizarding kind when it happened.

**-Break-**

'Oh what do we have here? Well there's no mistaking you for anything but a…'

"Gryffindor!" the sorting hat shouted from above her head. She visibly relaxed and pushed herself off the stool and ran over to where all the shouts and screams were coming from. She sat down next to Remus across from Sirius with James on her other side and the rat sitting down the line somewhere else.

"Congratulations Hermione welcome to the family." James said and spread his arms indicating to the rest of the table. They ate their dinners while talking about anything that came to mind. She could feel Sirius shooting her looks every now and then but just decided to ignore it; she would deal with him later. The hall was starting to empty very quickly as everybody around them went back to their respective common rooms. Dumbledore was walking down their isle and he stopped before the four of them, peter was still nowhere to be found.

"Miss Granger I took the liberty of putting your things in the girls dormitory, I trust everything you need will be in there, and I was wondering if you could stop by my office tomorrow morning, we need to continue our discussion. Mr Black, would you be as kind as to escort Miss Granger to my office?" he asked and before they could answer he was off on his merry way again.

"Let's get going guys, I suppose we should really try and find peter. Hermione needs to get settled in as well" James said to them and got up to lead them to the Gryffindor common room.

When they got there Peter was sitting on the couch looking into the fire. Hermione curled her lip up at him, she still couldn't stand the sight of him, and she doubted she ever would.

"I'm going to go up and sort my things out; I'll see you tomorrow morning. Sirius I'll talk to you then." She said giving him a meaningful look. He hung his head in shame and she walked up to the stairs but stopped once she had gotten around the corner, she was sure she had just heard her name. Sirius was arguing with Peter and so were James and Remus.

"How can you just trust her like that Sirius? You don't even know her." Peter was whispering.

"I trust her because I know I can, and you should trust her because I trust her or at least because Dumbledore trusts her." Sirius was shooting back at him.

"That old man would trust a killer if one happened to just venture into the castle."

"Peter I think you should go to bed, you're obviously just upset because she doesn't seem to like you." Remus interrupted the two men argument. She could hear somebody walk away so she decided to go up to bed as well. She thought it very ironic that the rat should be the one questioning whether she was trustworthy or not. Of all the people they shouldn't trust she was nothing compared to that traitor.

There wasn't anybody else in the dormitory when she opened the door and for that she was thankful. Today had been a long day and she didn't much feel like facing a gang of hyper-active girls, which included Harry's mother. she spotted a trunk that looked new and guessing it was hers she opened it and pulled out a pair of jogging bottoms and a tee-shirt, the rest she could look over tomorrow. She just wanted to go to sleep and have her dreams take her away to somewhere that wasn't a castle full of ghosts and traitors.

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**Author's Notes**- I just managed to get this chapter done before I have to get off here. Sorry if it's a bit crappy but I rushed it. I shall fix it tomorrow if I get time.  
Oh and I know it's going slow but I will introduce Severus Snape into the story next chapter. I promise.  
Might not be a new chapter tomorrow I have to work all day, so it might be up on Tuesday.

Love you guys, Destiniex

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	5. Questions?

DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of J.K. Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

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Chapter Five: Questions?

Hermione had woken up early enough to avoid the inevitable meeting between herself and the other girls in her room. She took a quick quiet shower, got dressed and crept out of the dorm. She found Sirius already down in the common room, he turned to look at her and gave her a hesitant smile, she grabbed his hand and led them towards Dumbledore's office, on the way there they talked about anything that avoided the subject of the future, which she was glad for but she could tell that Sirius was eager to scoop the information out of her as soon as possible.

Dumbledore and Sirius had been listening to her story about the whole 'ending up in the past' ordeal for the last 24 minutes. She had left out the part about seeing her future professors writing in the book and she had only stuck to what they needed to know. That meant not letting them know that they had both died in her world.

She had thought about telling them about Snape, but she didn't want to tag a still relatively innocent boy, man? She still didn't know whether to think of these people as the people she knew or the people that they were at the moment.

"I still can't believe this." Sirius said interrupting her thoughts.

"Why were you even in my house in the first place? Do we know each other in the future? Am I married? Have I got kids? Oh does Moony finally bag himself a girlfriend? What about Pete-"

"I can't answer questions like that Sirius, it might affect the future, but yes I'll know you in the future." Dumbledore noticed how she avoided saying that she still did know him. He frowned, her world must be worse than he thought. Sirius didn't notice however, he was too full of questions just waiting to be said. The force of trying to keep them in was literally making him shake in his boots. They didn't have to wait long for his silence to break. That's how they spent the next 20 minutes, Sirius asking questions and her shooting them down every time.

"SIRIUS! Just shut up for a moment. I need to speak to professor Dumbledore privately. You can go down to breakfast without me, I'm sure the others are up by now, they'll be down anytime now." Being asked so many questions could be very tiring, no wonder the teachers got so cranky by the end of the day. Sirius got up and walked out of the door slightly put out, but Hermione could tell he'd be on her case again later.

"Something you wish to tell me Miss Granger?" Dumbledore said with that damn twinkle in his eyes. It still made her heart ache. She couldn't think of any way to clip around the subject so she just came out with, straight to the point.

"That day in the library I was researching Horcruxs, Voldemort's Horcruxs. I think that's why I'm here, there's one I have to find here." If Dumbledore was shocked to hear this he didn't show it. He got up and stood in front of one of the many mysterious trinkets he had collected over the years, and started playing with it.

"The soul is a powerful thing Miss Granger. It can be shaped to give the greatest amounts of love if we find the person who needs it or it can be shaped to destroy that love. I think you'll find the first one applies to you. Maybe you'll find that person standing before your very eyes sooner than expected." He turned around and their eyes locked with the others, they both knew there was something the other wasn't telling them. A tapping at the window broke the silent knowing between them.

"I do believe that's my indication to end this meeting. Good luck Miss Granger, but then again, we both know you don't need it." She lifted herself from chair nodding dumbly at him and turned to leave his office.

She was walking towards the hall, lost in thoughts of Dumbledors little speech, when she collided with something solid and ridged. She braced herself for the fall that was surely to follow but was startled when she felt strong hands fold around her wrists keeping her up right.

"Watch where you're going next time." A gruff voice spoke at her. Her head quickly snapped up expecting to meet those cold eyes that could freeze fire, so what she saw surprised her. They weren't the emotionless eyes of a man full of hate. They were the emotionless eyes of a broken boy. It had never occurred to her to think about what Snape was like as a boy her age. He was still lanky and had that nose that was too big for his face but it didn't seem to stand out as much, probably because he had a bit of fat on his body, unlike in the future. She realised she was staring at him and he was still holding her.

"Um … I'm sorry. I wasn't really looking where I was walking."

"I would have never guessed, the part where you knocked into me was a slight giveaway." Was he trying to make or joke? Or was he just being sarcastic. Either way she still thought it rude. He raised an eyebrow at her squinted eyes, and then he quickly shoved her arms back at her and walked past her into the hall.

She stood there rooted on the spot looking after him with her mouth hanging open, then snapping back to the world around her she shut it and followed after him but going to Gryffindor table instead of Slytherin.

Hermione had been sitting down for all of five minutes before Sirius started throwing looks her way and she got tired of it.

"Sirius I know you're dying to ask me something, so just ask." She said slightly annoyed that the boy couldn't even contain himself that much that he was risking shouting out at her and ruining her entire cover. Not that she had rely had to come up with one yet. Nobody seemed to have asked her. She would have to remember to think of something to say. Somebody was bound to ask her.

"Okay, But you have to promise that you'll answer this one?" Hermione hesitated. What if he asked her something that would kill him if he knew? Could she rely resign herself to be known as the girl that killed his dreams? She looked sadly at those pleading eyes he was giving her and she felt in her heart that she owed him some ounce of truth, so she gave him a slight nod. When he spoke his voice was full of every emotion that he must have known.

"What's it like in the future? Does everything turn out alright?" Her entire body went rigid. She wasn't expecting that. What could she say? That her world was in total disarray and you couldn't walk down the street without fear of being attacked? That Hogwarts wasn't remotely safe anymore? She felt so uncomfortable under his stare. Her hand went to the bracelet that was on her left wrist, she had developed this nervous habit ever since Harry and Ron had bought it for her birthday last year. She felt round her wrist only to realise that her bracelet wasn't there, she panicked even more, she never took it off, she couldn't have lost it. She make a little squeak and then the memory of Snapes' hands around her wrists popped into her mind, she immediately stood up and growled, making everybody within ear shoot look at her. She turned sharply to look over to the Slytherin table and made another little growl. She moved to start walking towards him but a hand on her arm stopped her.

"Are you mad? You don't honestly think you're going over there do you?" Remus said to her harshly. She raised her eyebrows at him. "Look I don't know what it was like for you before but in this school Gryffindors' don't just storm over to the Slytherins' for a chat." She turned to Sirius he had a similar look to Remus plastered all over his face.

"I don't intend to have a 'chat' in any way shape or form Remus Lupin." She felt his hand loosen and his eyes lower. "Cover me, I'm going in" she said dramatically to him, as if she was about to enter a battle field. She gave a little laugh and shaking Remus's hand off of her she walked over to the Slytherin table. She saw that most, if not all of the Gryffindors, were looking at her either horrified, or as if she had been condemned to death. Some of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken notice too. The Slytherins, to their credit, hadn't yet made a spectacle of her being there, they were keeping to themselves, plus they probably thought that she wasn't worth the worry, being new and all.

Standing behind Snape she waited a few seconds then realising that he was ignoring her she gave a deep cough, as if clearing her throat, to get his attention. He was still non-fazed by her so she reached out her hand and touched him lightly on the shoulder. That seemed to get his attention; he snapped around in his seat quickly and whispered menacingly to her.

"Don't touch me again you filthy Gryffindor." She was going to give a sarcastic reply but forced herself not to, she needed that bracelet back and she didn't think that would be the best plan of action. She put a sweetly smile on her face and spoke to him in a sugar coated voice.

"I'm sorry but you have something of mine. I'd like it back please." She held out her hand, waiting to have it placed there. He looked down at her open palm then back at her face, raising one think black haired eyebrow at her he was about to reply when somebody else's voice drifted to their ears.

"Severus my friend, give the little girl back her trinket and then she'll be of no bother to anybody." Hermione and Snape both snorted at the same time at Lucius Malfoys words. She was most certainly not a 'little girl'. He was most certainly not Malfoys 'friend'.

"Lucius, I do not need you butting in my conversations, or in anything that I do as a matter of fact." Snape said sending an icy glare towards the blonde.

"Severus it would serve you well to talk to your betters with a little respect." He shot back sending a challenging look at Snape. She had no interest in hearing these two quarrelling, she'd only come over here to retrieve her bracelet, which still had yet to be returned.

"Just give me back the bracelet Snape and I'll be on my way, then you two can get on with your little ego match." She saw Snape give her a funny look as if she'd said something shocking. Malfoy was just looking at her with fury behind his eyes.

"How dare you, you filthy tramp! If you every disrespect me again you'll regret it. I'll make sure of that." He spat at her. She found it quite amusing that this soon to be neatly trimmed aristocrat let somebody like her get him so wound up, with only a few simple words. She felt Snape grab her hand then felt the cold metal of her bracelet be pressed into her palm. Her eyes flicked away from Malfoy's for a moment to land on his black ones. She saw something akin to a laugh in them but it was gone the next second. Giving him a slight nod in thanks she turned to Malfoy again, holding the bracelet firmly in her hand, and gave him a sly smile.

"I somehow don't think I will, But if I ever do, it would still be worth it to see that look on your face." She turned to walk away but before her back was turned she saw him pull out his wand. She pulled out hers too and murmured a deflexion charm pointing it behind her back. Malfoy hadn't noticed so still fired his hex at her, he was too busy smirking to move out of the way before he realised what was happening. She didn't even bother turning round to see what damage he had done to himself.

"It's not nice to attack when somebody's back is turned, you never know what could happen." She said in a sing song voice that drifted back to the Slytherin table. When she sat back down at her own table Hermione could feel at least ten pairs of eyes on her. Ignoring them all, she clipped her bracelet back on her wrist and kept her eyes downcast as she ate her breakfast. Everyone went back to their toast or cereal within a few minutes, but she could still hear a whispered conversation every now and then that would contain her name. How did these people even know her name? She realised she had hardly been here for less than a day and she had already become a topic of conversation. Hermione could already tell that her time here was going to be disastrous. She sank into her seat praying that she was wrong.

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**Author's Notes- **I might be able to get the next chapter up tonight, to make up for the late postage of this one :)  
Snape steeling! How dare he. It was his little cameo, and he shall have many more through-out the story, after all this is Hermione's and his love I'm playing with.

.x.o.o.x. R E V I E W .x.o.o.x.


	6. No Fairy Princess

DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

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Chapter six: No Fairy Princess

Severus looked from her retreating back to Lucius and saw him fire a curse at her. He gave a small smile in his mind, when he saw her slight movement to get her wand. It was about time somebody got one up on that prick, he was always creeping around anyone who he thought could prove useful to him; his current project was none-other than Severus himself. He eyed Malfoys now Pinkie Purple blotchy skin, it was quickly turning into first degree burns. Serves the bastard right, it was pretty cowardly to fire when a person's back is turned.

"That bloody wench is going to regret doing that; nobody makes a fool of me without the consequences." He heard the blonde whisper deadly to Knott, who was helping him get up off the floor where he had landed from the power of his own curse. Severus believed that Lucius would keep his word, he always did. His eye's drifted up to the bushy brunette's bent head; she would never know what hit her once Lucius was through with her. Giving a mental shake of his head he turned back to his own breakfast. What did he care, by the looks of things she already had her 4 lumps of bodyguard to fight her corner.

Finishing his last bit of toast he got up and stalked out of the great hall. It was going to be time for class in 10 minutes and he had to go all the way down to the dungeons to get his books, then all the way up to the astronomy tower. Not that anybody would notice if he was late he thought to himself miserably.

-.-.-.-

Hermione took her timetable out from her pocket where she had shoved it this morning, it was neatly folded so when she unfolded it out could see the crease lines going from top to bottom, and side to side. Her eyes drifted over the Monday column. She had Herbology in a few minutes with Professor Plantaker, after that was break, Arithmancy, Charms, lunch and double Potions last thing. She was so excited to see what the curriculum was like in this century, she hoped it wasn't too advanced for her or too far down on the other end of the spectrum; that simply wouldn't do at all. Getting up she walked with Remus to Herbology. She knew already that Remus was a studious person but she had never known he had taken Herbology for his N.E.W.T's; it just didn't seem to go with his underlying deadly character. She chuckled to herself which promoted a look from the boy in question that clearly showed he though her to be insane, laughing at nothing but thin air. She gave a little blush and walked the rest of the way in silence.

**-Break-**

The day had gone ridiculously well for Hermione so far, receiving at least three points for every answer she gave, which was about six in total so far. She could have answered every single question in all of her classes but she thought she would make the others work for it rather than just getting off on her smarts. The only thing that was distracting her through-out her entire charms lesson was the flame haired green eyed beauty sitting in front of her. Every time she had turned round to ask Hermione something her mouth had gone dry and she felt her mind shut down. Harry truly did have his mothers' eyes. While she was sitting there thinking about her friends it had hit her that James looked exactly like Harry but it hadn't fazed her as much as Lilly's eyes. Now she knew why everybody made a big deal about his eyes. She smiled to herself and answered the girls' question, pointing into her text book. Lilly seemed to be a very lovely girl, and she was glad for it, she needed at least one girlfriend in this time.

The bell rang throughout the classroom and they began to pack their things and make their way down to the great hall once again, this time perhaps she could eat her food in peace. She felt empty inside as if she hadn't eaten in days, she was worried that this whole being thrown back into the past had affected her body somehow. She was probably just being silly so she pushed the thought to one side. She sat down opposite Lilly and began to chat animatedly to her about anything that found its way into the girls' minds, but still trying to avoid anything that might relate to her in some way.

"Hello Hermione, Lilly you look absolutely stunning; New shampoo?" James voice interrupted them half way through talking about how she was finding the classes so far and if they were different what she had been taught. It had been decided that her cover story was that she had been home schooled since she 11. Her mother was Kaitlyn, a muggle, and her father was George, a wizard. They had died in a car crash at the end of last year so she had to finish her last year Hogwarts.

"James I've told you before, compliments won't get you anywhere with me, especially not lame ones like that." Lilly had told her James had been at her heels since the beginning of last year. She hadn't accepted any of his offers to go out with him because she knew what his type was like. Hermione had been surprised at first to learn that they weren't the head over heels love birds that everybody seemed to portray them as.

"Aw Lils I was only being nice. Why do you keep breaking my heart?" He made a big gesture as if in pain from his heart, clutching at it through his robes. Lilly gave a un-lady like snort and turned back to Hermione, who she received a knowing smirk from. It was plain that Lilly did like him but she would never admit it, not yet anyway.

"Prongs mate give it up already and stop making a fool of yourself, it's embarrassing to be seen with you sometimes." Sirius mimicked what James had just done but with a demented look all over his face. "But hey it could be worse; you could be Snivellus over there."

"That's true, just thinking about having to live as that maggot gives me creeps." Hermione had been ignoring them up until the point when she heard Snape mentioned. She had heard stories from harry about what happened between the Maraluders and Snape, and it wasn't exactly hard to tell that they weren't friends considering the shouted insults that were flung back between Sirius and Snape at the order meetings back at Grimauld place in her own time. Her eyes drifted over to the Slytherin table. She smirked to herself when she noticed Malfoy wasn't present. Before her eyes could seek the raven haired boy out Sirius's voice was calling to her.

"So Hermione what happened this morning when you went over there? We couldn't really see or hear seeing as we were all the way over here. I heard somebody say that you cursed Malfoy. About time somebody got a good shot at that arrogant bastard." Sirius finished, muttering more to himself than to her.

"I just taught him to not be so naive as to attack somebody where their back is turned. Though I reckon he didn't understand that all too much. He was probably more worried about his ego being bruised." She gave a small shrug, and a sigh. She hadn't really thought about the consequences of her actions until now. In his eyes she was probably on top of his hunting list now. That was just what she needed over everything else.

"I guess I'll be having another run in with him in the near future." She shook it off and smiled at everyone.

"Hermione, I don't mean to sound condescending but I really don't think you understand how this school works. You shouldn't have gotten on the wrong side of Malfoy; he isn't to be taken lightly. He's the best person in our Duelling class; it's very likely that he could take you down with his eyes closed. For his angel like face he has a magic of pure darkness" Lily lectured her, all the time the seriousness of the situation evident in her eyes. Hermione at least had the graciousness to bow her head in shame. Her being in Malfoys' bad books would eventually equal her friends joining her there because she knew that they would defend her from him. But be that as it may they need not worry about it. She had dealt with worse than a teenage Lucius. She had survived two fully fledged death eater attacks and come out of it with only a scar across her abdomen from the latter. She wasn't exactly going to go blurting that out though. They wouldn't even realise how much of a feat that was for a girl of her age, the Slytherins might, but she doubted even they had a full grasp on the truth about the death eaters. When she realised they were still waiting for an answer from her she was about to apologise but shut her mouth again. She wasn't going to say sorry for something that probably wouldn't even occur and she had worse things to be worrying about. She reached down and grabbed her bag off of the floor.

"Well if Malfoy comes looking for me brandishing his wand like a mad man be sure to tell him that I'm in the library, I have work to do." And with that said she turned on her heal and headed for the library; she knew she could always find solace in there. When she reached the wooded door that lead to her comfort zone she realised she still had yet to eat a whole meal, and the empty feeling was still present but she didn't think it was from lack of food. Maybe she'd look for information about medical problems connected to time travel while she was in the library.

**-Break-**

Potions lesson was a complete wreck, it was worse than Professor Snapes' lessons. This woman was dreadful to say the least and Hermione could plainly see where Professor Snape got his teaching manner from. Professor Levesque was tall with straight but wild brown hair, a small pointed nose that looked as pinched as the rest of her face and brown eyes that stood out against the pallor of her skin. Hermione supposed she would be quite beautiful in an aristocrat kind of way if she bothered to put in some effort. She had already dubbed Hermione as annoying and a book worm, the slytherins seemed to find this funny, especially Lucius; who seemed to have made a miraculous recovery from his burns. The wonders of a good glamour charm would never fail to impress Hermione. The one good thing about this teacher was that she seemed too loath both houses in the classroom not just the Gryffindors. She was sitting with a boy called frank because she had yet been unable to mend things between her friends about her actions earlier. When Hermione saw how appalling this Frank boy was at potions she put that together, with his somewhat familiar face she came up with the last name Longbottom.

"Pardon? Did you just say something Hermione?" Hermione mentally smacked herself; she must have said her thought out loud. She stammered out a lame explanation.

"Yes I just said um ... Lacewings. I need to add the lacewings now." _That was lame Hermione._ Frank just smiled at her shyly and nodded his head; the boy hadn't even noticed that the potion didn't require Lacewings. Hermione turned back to her potion that was simmering and turning from blue to dark purple. She had never been this clumsy in her life; if she couldn't get control of her mouth she was going to be trouble. Grabbing the used knifes and other utensils she made her way to the sink to clean up, while she was waiting until it was time for the next stage of the potion.

-.-.-.-

Severus had just finished this stage of the potion when he noticed from the corner of his eye that the 'Hermione' girl was washing her things up. Normally he wouldn't leave his cauldron but he felt the need to talk to her, it was after all his fault for this morning and he probably wouldn't have another opportunity to talk to her without them damn Maraluders hovering around. Grabbing the things on his desk he walked over and dropped them all into the sink next to hers. She jumped at the unwelcome noise and looked at him but didn't acknowledge him in any other way, creasing her eyebrows she went back to her cleaning. He guessed she was Mad about him taking her bracelet, bangle or whatever the hell it was. He washed his stuff too and after a minute of silence he finally decided to break it.

"That was rather stupid of you this morning, Lucius isn't a force to be reckoned with and he'll make sure that you know it next time." He knew she had heard him because for a second or two she had stopped what she was doing.

"That's the second time I've been told that today." Her response came after a period of silence. "I'm not exactly a fairy princess myself though, I can handle Malfoy." She turned her head to look at him and gave him a little smile. Severus was slightly taken back; the only girl who had ever smiled at him was Lily, why would this girl smile at him? Because of him she would most likely be hunted down for the next few weeks if not months. He turned his head down towards his washing up.

"I just thought I'd warn you. Not that you'd need to protect yourself with them idiots around you." She knew exactly who they he was talking about and he saw her smile slip slightly.

"Thank you for your concern Snape but I have to get back to my potion." He plastered a sneer on his face and went back to his potion as well, ignoring the feeling of unease in his stomach. He got a strange feeling from that girl. She acted as if she didn't care what she did, like it wouldn't affect her. He believed her when she said she could handle Malfoy though.

She was the first one out of the classroom when potions had finished. She had to go back to the common room before heading to dinner. She rushed through the portrait hole and skipped the deserted common room, going straight up the girl's stairs and into the seventh year's room. She dropped to her knees in front of the trunk at the bottom of her bed. She searched through it for a plain diary or just a plain paged book. Surely Dumbledore would have given her a diary. She had found everything else she would need; and found it disturbing that Dumbledore had gotten her bra size right in the process, but alas no diary. With a little huff of annoyance she closed the trunk back up and got off the floor. She hadn't noticed it when she came into the room but there was a package with a note on top of it sitting on her bed, just lying there for anybody to read. She was hesitant but still picked it up and opened the letter.

'_Miss Granger,  
I realised I failed to supply you with a place to write your findings, so here it is. I hope you'll put it to good use.  
Time can be a strange thing if you don't know what it's there for, don't you agree?_

_Professor Albus Dumbledore;  
Headmaster at Hogwarts School  
of witchcraft and Wizardry.'_

She creased her forehead; she would never understand his riddles. Regardless of the riddle she was glad he had thought to send her a diary, it was the only place she could write her research all in one place. She picked up the wrapped book and placed it in her bag. Leaving Gryffindor tower once again she headed for the library, Lily and the others would have to wait until later. She did think about making an appearance at dinner, if only to get a bit of bread, but she thought she would grab something from the kitchens before she went to bed.

When she got to the library the first thing her eyes saw was Snape sitting there surrounded but pieces of parchment and books that were scattered around, some open some stacked in a pile beside him. He was bent over them and was apparently so engrossed by his writing that he hadn't noticed her walk past him and go look for her own books. It only took her a minute to find what she was looking for. She grabbed a few off the shelf that looked to be promising. She walked past him, stopping a few seats up from him and placed the stack of books she was carrying noisily on top of the table. That seemed to get his attention, well at least his acknowledgement. He made a gruff noise and curled his lip at the stack of books then turned back to his work.

"Hello to you too Snape, what are you working on? Oh the Arithmancy essay. I'm going to do mine later. Well it was nice talking to you I'll just be getting on with my research. Maybe we could do this again some time." She said in a mocking fashion and rolled her eyes. She pulled out the chair and sat down. Pulling off the large purple book from the top of her stack (_'The Strands of Time')_ she opened it and looked through the index for what she was looking for. She flipped through it and came to page 224, 'Effects of Time on the Body', she was about to read it when his voice cut through her thoughts.

"Thinking about doing some time travelling Granger?" His voice sounded serious. How could she be so stupid to be researching this in front of somebody? Most of all him. This time travelling had muddled up her sensibility as well as her body apparently. Her eyes widened and she looked at him, fumbling to find a reason for these books, she couldn't very well pawn it off as a class essay. He had all the same lessons as her for crying out loud. She just gave him a goofy looking smile.

Crap.

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**Authors' Notes**– AHHH I haven't updated in ages. I'm so sorry. My computer broke and then I got my new laptop and the internet wouldn't go on it (GRRR!) and then it was Christmas and hangovers galore, I had no time to even log on here ... then new years (And I still have a hangover from that btw! ha-ha)... and so I just thought I'd post this. It's the best I could come up with in my current state of mind.

I have to go back to work again tomorrow (oh give me a sympathy vote here somebody?)

Review if you would be so kind. Love xxx


	7. School Boy fights

DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

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**Chapter Seven: School boy fights**

She knew she must have looked somewhat deranged from the ugly sneer he was giving her. So forgetting about the panic, and rearranging her face she managed to gather back some degree of composure. She would have to think on her feet, and fast.

"I was actually just um doing some research for um... personal interests" _Good one Hermione, do you rely think a mind like his is going to believed that half arsed string of words_. She gave herself a mental slap on the head, which would have left a red mark, was it real.

"Yes. I can see how one would want to look up time travel for a different reason other than wanting to peruse it." He replied sarcastically. He seemed to let the subject drop as he suddenly became totally engrossed with his work again. Hermione paused for a moment out of shock but before she could take advantage and thank the heavens for Snapes unusual mercy her mouth seemed to be moving.

"If you must know Snape, the reason I was looking at these is because I want to be a Mediwitch when I graduate. To specialise in rare cases would be quite fascinating, and what more so than somebody from the future or the past. I mean image the strain it would cause on your body; it would have to adjust to unfamiliar sights, people and surroundings. Losing the ones you hold dear must cause some kind of trauma to the mind as well as body." Okay it wasn't a complete lie she did want to be a Mediwitch when she graduated, just not for them reasons. After the words has stopped pouring from her mouth her mind seemed to just pick at what she'd just said and she froze with the revelation of the truth. She was in shock; that's why she couldn't eat and seemed to change her feelings about things in a snap. That's why her brain seemed to be permanently stuck on 'stupid' mode. She gave a little groan, she really couldn't handle this. She wasn't strong enough.

She felt sad all of a sudden and when her eyes meet his she felt even worse. There was no friendly twinkle in his eye and he didn't look like he would hug her anytime soon. Why did she even sit with him? She realised that she'd been trying to replace her friends with him without even realising it. He was familiar to her in some defaced sort of way, but she really had no right to think they'd be friends. She felt her eyes prickle with hot tears. She really did miss her friends she missed seeing the flash of red hair running towards her when he had found out she'd stolen the daily profit before he could look at the Quiditch scores. She missed being next to Harry while they trained endlessly to become all that they could in combat. She even missed being scared and worried about the way Harrys temper rose and fell all the time. They all knew it was from use of dark magic, but who were they to deny a boy something that could save his life?

Most of all she missed her own mind and balance.

"I feel sorry for the unfortunate soul that will ever be placed under your care. Maybe you should worry about your own state of mind Granger, you look a mess." Snape spat at her harshly through his crooked teeth. He got up in one fluid motion and walked out of the library, leaving her there to the silent tear that he knew was running down her left cheek. But he couldn't have anything to do with the girl, the mark burned onto his left arm made sure of that.

She swiped at the tear. She refused to cry herself for her own stupidity at being landed in this world. She picked her bad off the floor and stoop up, she looked around her and for the second time in her life she was disgusted at the sight of books all around her. She hated them for being so tempting, and for making her open them before she knew what they would contain. Turning swiftly on her heel Hermione stormed out of the dreadful place, she left behind the very knowledge that she would need in the near future. Not even bothering to look around her she shoved her way 

through the people that were on the way back from their meals. She didn't even stop when she knocked down a first year who fell to the floor and cried out in pain.

The next thing she knew she was standing in the Gryffindor common room with 5 pairs of eye on her. From the second she looked into lily's eyes she knew what was to come. This bunch of misfits was her friends now, friends were meant to protect each other, but she couldn't protect hers. Her entire resolve broke; dropping her bag on the floor she just stood there and cried. She cried for their deaths, for their lives and the life's they would give. She cried for what they would lose and for what she would lose. Most of all she cried because she couldn't do anything about it, she was the one who was sentencing them to their deaths and to their broken souls. Voldemort would be proud, she thought bitterly to herself.

She felt strong arms wrap around her and she knew immediately that it was Sirius, her arms clutched around his torso from instinct. She would never forget how he felt pressed to her body, providing her with the security that she desperately needed. Never.

"Shhhh, you're okay here, I told you I'd look after you and I will." She smiled into in shoulder.

"I'm not the one who needs protecting though." She whispered to herself; though she was certain he heard her he made no inclination of it. The tears finally stopped and she drew back from him. She must look a mess, she guessed her face was red, her eyes puffy and her hair had grown at least two inches wider. It always did when she cried.

"I'm sorry." Was all it took for rest of them to come over to her and give her hugs; she even managed to give peter a quick hand shake. After all her loathing for him was nothing compared to the loathing she directed at herself. They didn't press her for the reason behind her tears; she knew she would have to tell Sirius tomorrow, but tonight was a time to just be, and for that she was thankful. She spent the evening playing chess, exploding snap and just talking about silly things. This is how things should always be she thought to herself, and then smiled at the knight who fell off his horse to the chess boards' floor.

She felt the couch sink down from the weight of another person there. Without looking she knew it was lily, it was strange that she'd known her in such a little space of time and yet she could easily recognise her scent. She supposed it was a product of living in war and having to know what surrounded you.

"Hey Hermione are you hungry? The boys have an insatiable appetite and we're going to get some food. Would you like anything?"

"I think I'm actually going to go to bed in a little while, if that's ok. It's been a long day and I'm really not all that hungry, but thank you Lily."

"Oh okay, well have a good night sleep. I'll be up later; I'll try not to wake you." The red head gave her a friendly smile. Hermione managed to give her a weak one in return.

"Before I forget Hermione, don't worry about the other girls. They probably won't even talk to you unless it's about boys, make up, nail polish or anything stupid like that. If they give you hassle just ignore them, they tend to lose interest quickly." _Reminds me of some other girl I used to know_. Hermione doubted if she would ever be able to let go of her old life while she was stuck here. She'd never really fit in here and even though she was in Hogwarts; it wasn't her home.

"That's a good thing then, because I'm not one for the latest fashion trends. Goodnight boys, I'll see you in the morning" with a little wave of her hand and a fake glitter of happiness in her eyes she turned from them and made her way upstairs.

True to lily's words the other girls hadn't even tried to speak with her, but the looks that they shot towards her hadn't gone unnoticed. To them she was probably a freak, she was smart, had made friends with the most popular boys in the school and had made a brilliant spectacle of one of the most dangerous boys in the school, and that was only today. Merlin knew what tomorrow hold but she'd give anything to just go by unnoticed.

Even when she was asleep she couldn't escape the sadistic dreams that plagued her every night since fifth year.

-.-.-.-

As Sirius watched the girl wonder up the stairs he had an overwhelming feeling that he needed to be there for her, to shelter her and protect her from his world and the enemies within it. When she had broken down into fits of tears hugging her was the only thought that shot through his entire body. He felt some kind of kinship towards her, like the kind of way an older brother felt for his younger sister. He wanted to know what happened, but knew it would have to wait till the morrow.

"Sirius Black, do you fancy Hermione? You're staring after her like you want to go up there with her." James voice brought him away from his thoughts.

"Shut up prongs mate, I don't fancy her, she's a friend. Now how about this food I'm wasting away over here." He pushed himself up off of the floor and waited for the others to slowly get up, he really was hungry. And a hungry Sirius made an impatient Sirius.

**-Break-**

Hermione woke from fitful sleep; she didn't know or just couldn't remember what had made her scared enough to wake up in a snap. Turning her head she saw it was still dark out and the clock read four forty in the morning. This is how things had been going for the entire week. No matter how late or early she went to bed she woke up in this state at exactly the same time. It would have panicked her if she wasn't already panicked about everything else going on. Losing sleep was hardly at the top of her list.

There had been no more incidents with the likes of Snape or Malfoy but she guessed it was only a matter of time before something happened, not that it bothered her. When Sirius had asked her about what had made her so upset she told him that it was just home sickness. He knew there something more to it so he had tried to keep an eye on her, but if she could outsmart a death eater then she'd be damned if she couldn't outsmart the likes of Sirius Black.

Her lessons were going smoothly as well and now that she had settled into a routine she managed to butter up most of the teachers so that they would give her the same wok as everybody else, instead of just catch up work. Professor Levesque was still proving a hard nut to crack; Hermione reckoned that she wouldn't be able to crack her by the time she went home, if she even went home that was. Hermione hadn't really had all that much spare time on her hands to research time travel, sure she had early mornings and late nights but it was so difficult to concentrate when you could feel eyes burning into the back of your head. She knew exactly who it was but she never gave into the temptation to throw him an evil look and tell him to get the hell away from her. To Hermione it had become part of her built in routine to ignore Snape at those times.

When she had finally managed to tear herself away from staring at the library door, in her currently asleep but mostly awake state, she pushed it open and she felt relieved by the smell of old paper pages and the musty smell that she presumed came from the dust and tables. Just like magic, she loved it. Though she had tried to keep away from places that would haunt her, the library was the one place she couldn't live without even if he was there as a constant reminder.

-.-.-.-

The day after their 'argument', if that is what you'd call it, he had been surprised to see her bushy head stick through the door. She made no effort to sit near him again; he was somewhat happy about it but more regretful than anything. He couldn't count the number of times he had just sat and stared at her thinking about going over there to apologize, but because of the coward he was, he never did. He had half expected to be jumped in the middle of the corridor by those Marauders; they never missed a chance to torment him, especially Black. He supposed it was possible that she hadn't said anything to them as no such attack had commenced yet.

He saw her eyes linger to find his for a moment but then like lightning she turned her back on him to pick out a few books from the section she always got her things from. He had looked there after she's gone and found nothing but travel books and the effects of travelling volumes. At least she was consistent; he'd like to be as stable with his life that his only worry was how to get around faster. When she made a move to sit down at what was rapidly becoming known as 'Her table' by everyone who entered the library, he made a move to get up and walk over there. His hands started to sweat and his mind was screaming at him to go back, he would do this if it killed him. He looked ahead to her and if his legs weren't on automatic then he would have stopped dead in his tracks. Although she had her back to him he had still never seen something as capturing in his eyes. The morning rays that were pouring in through the window were settling around her hair and made it look as though every curl was on fire. The sun disappeared when he reached her. _Typical_, he thought to himself, _you're taking away the light from her life just like you do everything else you come into contact with._

Hermione Had felt him get up from his chair all the way over the other side of the room. She shuffled slightly in her chair she felt so uncomfortable with the light shining around her; she wished it would go away as she couldn't see a thing. So when Snape got there she gave a small sigh, happy to not be blind anymore. He must have thought she was sighing regretfully because of him because he started to move away as soon as it had left her lips.

"What did you want Snape? If you've got something to say then I suggest you get it over with. I'll have to leave in a minute." He stopped and seemed to be having a mental argument with himself whether he should do it or not.

"If you're looking for books about travel you should check the Ministry law books, they have some interesting ideas in there." She noticed how stiff and tense his body had become and she realized they both must be thinking the same thing.

_Coward._

"I'm fine thank you but you could help me if you wanted to." She didn't want to be his friend, and he'd made it plain that he didn't want to be hers, but she didn't want him to be alone; as she knew him to be. He raised an eyebrow at her and turned straight on his heel. She felt disappointed, not because he didn't accept her offer, but because he was rejecting it for the wrong reasons.

"Boys'" she whispered to herself and gathered her stuff back in her bag ready to set off to breakfast.

o.o.o.o

_Stupid wench, don't even know why I went over there in the first place! How dare she pity me?_ He didn't even need to be a master in Legilimency to be able to see her thoughts, it was written all over her face. _You fool, you should have just kept away, and you knew it would have been easier to just ignore her._ As far as Snape was concerned she could keep her pity-ship he didn't need it, he didn't need anyone. He may only be a half blood but he was a powerful one, and the dark lord would make him more so. Then you'll see who will pity who Granger. He didn't mean it but he felt 

the need to convince himself that he was better than her.

"Well well if it isn't little Snivellus, it's always a pleasure." _Oh god here it comes, Black in all his shining glory._ He rely wasn't in the mood, especially because the corridor was going to be packed with students any minute now.

"Piss off Black; I've got better things to waste my time on than you." Snape took in Black's attire and found it somewhat amusing; he had obviously not spent the night in his own room. "Maybe you should go wash the stench of your latest whore off, you look disgusting." He curled his lip up and gave him a disgusted smirk.

"I'm surprised you even know the smell of a woman Snape. Even your own mother didn't want you!"

"You've got room to talk Black. You're the one whose whole family has disowned him." They could both feel the electrical waves of magic radiating off of the other.

"Go on Black just try and draw your wand, I swear you'll regret it." He watched Blacks hand move towards his belt but he was too quick.

"_Aguamentis_" Snape whispered and watched as The Water shot from his wand all over Black. Black stood there in shock, Snape had deliberately made the water freezing cold. "I told you to get a shower, now I guess you don't have to. " That seemed to bring Sirius back out of his shock

"_Incarcerous_" He could see that one coming a mile away so he simply put up a blocking charm. The ropes fell motionless to the floor.

"You can do better than that Black, I'm sure you've picked up better than that lame excuse for a spell round that place you used to call home." They were both now standing poised for a duel. Severus only just realised that they were starting to accumulate a crowd.

"_Serpensortia_" Severus was pleased with himself when he saw the crowd move out and a few first years run away from fear of the great green scaled yellow eyed snake now slithering around on the floor towards Black. He felt proud. "Deal with that Black."

"Snape don't be ridiculous you could hurt one of our many spectators. Call it back, NOW!" Sirius wasn't exactly afraid of snakes; he just didn't deal with them well. Snape had obviously used this bit of information to his advantage. A new round of insults had just formed on the tip of each boy's tongues when a voice cut through the space in-between.

"_Expelliarmus_" Both boys were disarmed simultaneously their wands flying into Hermione's palm. She had been watching the exchange since it started and she could plainly see it was about to grow from a school boy fight to a duel. She wasn't about to let that happen while she had just began to get used to the idea of seeing them both every day. It would break her heart if she had to lose them again.

"Awww Hermione I was just about to kick his arse! You spoil sport." Sirius whined like the spoilt little child he was. She rolled her eyes to the heavens thinking Azkaban actually grounded him somewhat, not that she would actually wish him to go there.

"Sirius I hate to be the one to tell you this but you were sorely losing. You had a dirty great snake in front of you and were just standing there like a wet mop, literally." She looked down at him and the puddle that was surrounding his feet.

"_Siccusaer_" She pointed her own wand at Sirius and he wasn't dripping any more, he was still wet but at least he wasn't making a mess on the floor. "I think you should go to your bedroom and clean up Sirius." She walked up to him and placed his Wand back in his hand. He grabbed her hand before she could turn around and whispered in her ear; his voice low.

"What are you doing? Are you actually sticking up for that git? He started it anyway." She scoffed at that.

"You know full well that he didn't Sirius and no I'm not sticking up for him I'm saving your arse from detention." She gave him a sweetly smile and he just laughed out loud and proclaiming to everyone around him.

"Show's over! Get to breakfast, maybe if you're lucky me and old Snapey will resume this somewhere where the missus won't show up." The crowd moaned and slowly disappeared into the great hall. Hermione turned around to see a very angry looking Snape. She was starting to regret taking his wand off of him.

"Granger just give me my wand back and be on your way."

"In case you haven't noticed Severus" she put emphasis on his name just annoy him and it worked because she saw a vein in his partially cover up neck beat. "You're in no position to order me about, but I'll give you your wand back if you do something for me first." His 'neck vein' started to jump about more; he was getting more aggravated by the minute.

"I don't think so." She gave him a sweetly smile and brought the hand containing his wand up and gave it a little shake then turned around and began to walk away

3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

"wait?"

Bingo. She smiled to herself and turned around he was walking towards her. She stood her ground and when he was merely inches away from her she still had her head high. He was trying to intimidate her, but it wasn't working. With 6 years of Professor Snape under your belt his teenage self was a breeze.

"You're different. Most people would have run a mile by now."

"I had a teacher at my old school that was far worse than you; I've told you before I'm no fairy princess." She saw him crease his eyebrows together as though he was confused, she noticed him step back and inch or two. She creased her own brows at that, what had she done now? Whatever it was he seemed to have gotten over it.

"I want my wand back so just tell me what it is that you want? I don't do love potions." She nearly burst out laughing. He thought she needed him to brew a potion, and a love one at that. She reached out her hand to place it on his shoulder to support her. Her entire body was shaking with silent fits of giggles. He jumped in the air at the sudden contact.

"I... don't need... a potion... I'm quite capable of... making my own" she said in between breaths.

"Please remove yourself from my person Granger." His voice cut through them both as cold as ice. So she did, her hand automatically went to her side.

"I just wanted to know if you'll be my partner in Potions next week. I don't think I'll be able to survive if I fail this project because of Frank. He's lovely, but between me and you, he's such a 

dolt." She finished with a little nervous laugh. Now that she had asked him this didn't seem like such a good idea. She waited for an answer but he didn't even twitch. So she held out his wand to him and he reached out and took it with eyebrows up to his forehead.

"Forget it, it was silly. See you later" She walked away from him.

It's not that he didn't want to be her partner, he just wasn't sure if he was allowed. He was meant to hate anything that stood for the other side and she defiantly stood for the light. Maybe he could talk to Professor Levesque and ask her to make it look like she had randomly placed them together. He smiled to himself; this was going to be interesting. The smile slid off his face as he looked down at the wand clutched in his hand. He was sure that earlier she had said '... a teacher at her old school' but that couldn't be because she had told everyone else that she had been home schooled. He pocketed his wand and turned his back and headed down to the dungeons.

Yes this would definitely be interesting.

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**Authors' Notes**– Right, so yeah I know it's really confusing at the moment but it would make more sense if I updated quicker so you could get the information. But I don't so bah!

Umm in case you haven't noticed I'm a crappy speller, so please don't point it out lol, I know already!!

'_**Siccusaer' (Siccus- Latin meaning 'Dry') (-aer Latin meaning 'air') – I made up this spell because I didn't know if there was one for drying clothes. If there is could somebody please let me know?? Maybe?? ... P.M. me or put it on the reviews**_

Anyways review if you would be so kind

Thank you ... lots of loves xx.xx.xx


	8. She Screams For No Man

_**DISCLAIMER**__:__ All characters and settings are the property of __**J. K. Rowling**__. I refuse to acknowledge that 'Deathly Hallows' was ever written, let alone published._

**Chapter Eight: She Screams For No Man**

Severus was currently making his way down into the dungeons contemplating of how hadn't bumped into Granger since his fight with Black; he wanted to talk to her about potions, and her request. Whenever he was in the library he'd found himself looking up at the library door every time it clicked opened thinking it was her, only to find to his disappointment that it was some nameless student he didn't know. He'd also noticed that she had failed to attend meal times; he'd also noticed that suspiciously a different marauder or Lily would be missing alongside her, though Pettigrew would always be there day in and day out.

He was brought out of his musings as the sounds of voices hit his ear drums.

"What do you mean you don't think it's a good idea? Of course it's a good idea! That fucking bitch humiliated me! She needs to be put back in her place; she needs to know that it won't be tolerated!" That was undoubtedly Malfoy; nobody could hold a torch to the acidic screams that was Lucius Malfoys rage.

"Yes, forgive me I know that, it's just that they won't let her go anywhere by herself, Black has vowed to himself to protect her." Severus felt his blood run cold. Whether it was from the realisation that they were talking about Hermione or the thought of Black being her knight in shining armour he wasn't sure. _Wait, Hermione? Granger! Her name's Granger! And I don't care who protects her! _He screamed to himself.

"Well then make him leave her alone. Get Granger to think that she doesn't need a bloody knight! I don't care how you do it just make sure she's by herself all day! You've got 2 days to figure out a plan; if you fail there will be consequences!" He herd Lucius stride away, and he decided that he should get moving again, it was nearly curfew and Slytherin was already behind in house points. He descended the steps lost in thoughts of whether or not to warn the girl, he didn't notice the plump mousey body of a boy hide in the shadows and slip away after he'd walked past it.

**-Break-**

"I hope you know how absurd this is." She hissed across the sofa in the common room. She'd only agreed to it in the first place knowing that he'd do it anyway. "Do you expect to keep this up for the rest of the year? Don't even talk to me unless it's to say you'll stop following me around everywhere." She interrupted him before he had a chance to speak. She paused waiting for him to speak up. "Well? Are you?"

"Hermione, you know it's for your own good, if Malfoy attacks you then I want to be there" he sounded sorry to hear the words come from his own mouth.

"If? IF?! I think you've made it pretty obvious that he's going to and it's only a matter of time!"She took in a scratchy breath.

"I've told you before Sirius Black that I can handle myself I don't need to be treated like a child. You don't know what I've been through or the kind of world I was raised in! I don't need protecting." She had whispered the last bit but still managed to keep the frustration in her voice. She lowered the finger that she now realised had been poking him in the chest and had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed about it, but she doubted he would notice through the red anger that already tinged her cheeks.

"No Hermione I don't know what it was like for you and do you know why?" She gave a little groan as she knew exactly what the next words from his mouth were going to be. "Because you refuse to 

tell me; you skirt around the subject like it's a wizarding flu epidemic! Why can't you just trust me?" he let out a shallow breath. "Please."

Hermione looked into his eyes and she saw the longing there once again. She'd had this conversation with him numerous times, and every time she had made up some excuse not to answer him. She knew he was right, she did owe him answers but she couldn't bring herself to tell him. She placed her hand gently on his cheek and felt her eyes water up.

"I can't."

"Yes you can, you just don't want to."

Peter squeaked from behind Hermione as if he wanted to say something. She whipped around and snarled at him.

"What do you want?" He looked frightened with his hands clenched together in front of his mouth and his hunched posture wasn't anything to desire. Scratch that, he didn't look frightened he looked like the disgusting weak rat that he was. He spluttered something unintelligible, Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose realising that she may have been a bit harsh. "Look, I didn't mean to snap at you it's just I haven't been sleeping well." That was the closest thing to an apology she would ever give him, he seemed to brighten up slightly and when he spoke she could understand every syllable.

"I was just going to say that maybe it's a good idea for you to be on your own, all you ever do is study in the library anyway. I doubt Lucius has ever stepped a foot in there since he's been here." Hermione frowned at the plump boy thinking that he had obviously hadn't heard the whispered conversation between herself and Sirius. Hermione opened her mouth with a thousand insults on the tip of her tongue; they were about to spring forth when she heard Sirius give a sight of defeat.

"Fine have it your way. Besides I was getting tired of standing outside the library for hours on end, the weekend is nearly over and I need some relaxation." He waved it off and walked back up to the boys' dormitory to sulk in defeat. She looked after the boy and realised that he felt defeated in more ways than the argument that was audible to the common room. Hermione turned back to Peter and gave him a nod of thanks before skipping out of the fat lady's portrait to go anywhere she pleased as a relatively free woman.

Her happy mood diminished when she realised where she stood, her feet had brought her down to the dungeon steeps, she was confused to say the least, and she had no reason to be here. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs; she turned around looking for somewhere to hide quickly. _Damn it, why don't they have any cupboards or hidey holes down here?_ She sense a body behind her, ignoring the instinct to run she turned around let out a thankful sigh when she saw Snape.

"What are you doing here? Where's one of your little heroes? " If it weren't for the look of seriousness on his face then Hermione would have... well she didn't know what she would have done, but she definitely would have done something nasty.

"I convinced them that I can handle myself, which I can. What does it matter to you anyway?" she crossed her arms over her chest and straightened her back defensively. Severus saw her body language change and he automatically went on the defensive to match her.

"It doesn't; I couldn't care less what happened to you." He pushed pass her deliberately knocking hard into her shoulder. She stared at his rapidly disappearing back and decided to run after him; she didn't know why but she felt like there was something she needed to know from him.

"Hey Snape wait up there's something I need to ask you." She skidded around the corner and knocked into him, well at least she thought it was him for a second before she looked up into cold grey unforgiving eyes.

"Hello Granger." Lucius Malfoy drawled from above her, she tried to take a discreet step backwards but he'd caught the movement and grabbed a hold of her wrist. "Where do you think you're going wench? I thought we could have a little... fun" Hermione could see his tongue lick his lips while he looked her up and down, she could feel the bile rise up but she pushed it back down.

"Didn't you have enough 'fun' the last time you tried to attack me? I know I certainly did." she just had time to smile up at him before his hard fist connected with her cheek; effectively wiping the smile off her face and sending her flying to the stone floor. She heard snickers from behind him and she looked up realising for the first time that they weren't alone; she couldn't make out the other two faces from the darkness but she had a pretty good idea of who they might be.

"You will learn to respect your betters you stupid wench." She looked back up to him ignoring the prickling tears in her eyes, from the bruise his punch had surely left behind, and had to bite down on her lip to stop the backchat from escaping her mouth. "Did you honestly expect to make a fool of me and get away with it so easily?" She still didn't give him the satisfaction of rising to his bait and kept her mouth shut. He looked at her before yanking her up and throwing her against the wall; her back smashed into it leaving her gasping for breath. He walked menacingly towards her before stopping and inch in front of her and leaning towards her ear.

"You'll be screaming before this night is over Granger." She could feel his hot breath in her hair and it sent disgusted shivers down her spine; he'd obviously mistook these shivers for meaning something else as he started nibbling on her neck. She took advantage of the situation by pulling his body closer to hers and wrapping one leg around him. He ground his hips into hers and she gave out a sweet moan while moving her head to the side, giving him better access to her neck. He took his free hand, that wasn't supporting him against the wall, and grabbed roughly onto her leg that was hooked around him. She brought her lips up to his ear and whispered to him in a menacing voice.

"I scream for no man." Using her hands that were clutched in his shirt she shoved him away from her roughly, and she pushed the leg that was hooked round him into the crook of his knee; effectively making him collapse to the ground. She pulled out her wand and pointed it into his face; before she could use it she felt two other wand tips press into her back. Hermione lowered her own wand and watched as Malfoy got up with a smirk on his face.

"You really think you can beat me? You'll never be able to touch me you pathetic excuse for a witch!"

"I could beat you with my eyes closed Malfoy, you're just to coward to attack me by yourself, instead you have to bring your little cronies along for the ride." She knew as soon as the words were out of her mouth that she had taken a step too far over that invisible line. He pulled out his wand and Hermione did nothing to stop him, there was no point when she had these two goons behind her.

"Crucio" She felt the effects immediately and fell to the floor jerking awkwardly in pain. She clamped down on her bottom lip to stop a cry escaping her lips, this made it had for her to breathe and she felt her vision blur from lack of oxygen. Malfoy continued his torture for a full minute before lifting the curse and hauling her to her feet.

"Why won't you scream wench? Do you like it? I bet you do you filthy whore." She barely had time to catch her breath before her had his lips crushed to her own in a fierce one sided kiss. Hermione could taste her own blood in his kiss and guessed that she had done damage to her bottom lip while she had been biting down on it in pain. She struggled against him trying to push him away but found that he had put his muscles to good use this time; she had no leverage over him. He forced her mouth open and slipped his tongue inside her mouth, tasting every inch of her mouth. If the hardness she felt pressing against abdomen was any indication as to where this was going then she had to do something, fast. She looked around frantically trying to find anything that would help her, she noticed that the two goons were at either end of the hallway keeping guard, and were out of earshot. She felt Malfoys hand sneak up her blouse and trace underwire of her bra, she could physically feel the bile rising slowly up. She tried to say something to him, through the still ongoing kiss, but no sound was coming out of her mouth. She realised that he must of spelled her silent, and wondered momentarily when that had happened before coming back to her senses and grabbing hold of her forgotten wand once again. She didn't need a voice to cast a spell and she silently thanked Remus for training her expertly in this handy technique, two summers ago. Before Malfoys hand that was creeping up her thigh could get and further she silently said the spell in her head and watched as Malfoy fell stiffly to the floor in front of her, frozen but still awake. She quickly looked to make sure his accomplices were still none the wiser; they weren't, and she lifted his spell from herself enabling her to speak again. She looked at his shocked eyes and smiled while bringing her fingertips down to brush along his swollen red icy lips.

"Aren't we the little sadist?" she saw his eyes flash in anger, it made her smile wider. "I'll warn you this one time that if you ever try to attack me again I won't hesitate to kill you." She heard pounding feet coming from the left end of the corridor, turning her head she saw that it was in fact Crabble, senior to her, running towards them. "I think we're done here, don't you?"

Hermione moved just in time before Crabble could reach her, the boy not anticipating her quickness didn't have time to change tactics. Hermione watched as if slow motion as the burly boy tripped over Malfoys body and was sent crashing into the wall head first, effectively knocking him out cold. The loud thud of commotion must have grabbed Goyle's attention as he was now running towards her as well. Not resisting the approaching eye roll Hermione pulled out her wand, muttered a well aimed 'Flipendo', and watched while he too lost consciousness as he hit the wall with a sickening crunch. She looked from one boy to the next and lowered her wand with a shaky hand, it was in these seconds that she realised the gravity of the situation, and what it could have became.

She fled from the scene as fast as her legs could take her, she turned corner after corner not knowing or caring where she was heading. She flew past portrait after portrait; she even flew past the fat lady without noticing or hearing as the lady called after her. She finally came to a halt when her legs gave out from underneath her, landing on her knees and palms. Felling a cold gust of wind whip around her body she gave an uncontrolled shiver and looked down at the stony slabs beneath her, trying to turn her breathing from short pants to longs steady breaths. She noted that the slabs were different from the ones that lined the hallways and guessed that she had somehow managed to come to a balcony, or the roof top.

Once her breathing had steadied she took the moment to drink in her surroundings, the nonexistent ceiling, the pillars that lined the walls, the telescopes that were dotted around pointing towards the starry sky and the weird solar system/planet gadgets that nobody had ever really understood. She couldn't manage to let out a gasp at the realisation that she was in the astronomy tower, the place where Dumbledore would die, taking Harry's heart with him. Gathering a fraction of her shaky energy back she managed to push herself from the centre of the room to the far wall; where she promptly slumped against it like jelly.

She may not have been there to see the tragic events that took place that night, but she was the one that had to bear witness to the after effects of it all, and to Hermione was far worse. She hadn't had time to mourn the loss of a safe world because, along with Ronald, she had to look after Harry as he dug himself further into his depression, cutting himself off from emotions and from the Order seeking release in the dark arts.

As she sat her lungs seemed to grow cold and she found it hard to breathe, she looked around thinking that tears would fall at the memory of it, and that she would gladly welcome them for once. She closed her eyes in desperation as she waited for them. They never came; no salty liquid or glistening tear fell. She looked to the sky wondering if she had really become that cold, or if being in this world had turned the memories into just that, simply a memory. With a wandering mind Hermione spent the night looking towards the stars waiting for the glow of a sun to reach up and warm her heart.

**-Break-**

"Did you hear... Lucius Malfoy... found in the corridor by... Crabble and Goyle were knocked out... who done it... they refuse to speak about it" Hermione only caught snippets of conversation on her way down to breakfast, but it wasn't hard to get the general gist of the latest gossip. She knew if they kept talking then Malfoy would get angrier and angrier but she honestly couldn't care less at the moment, what was done and she was glad that she'd got one up on him again, even if it was at a price. She slid into the seat next to Remus, grabbed some toast and started to slather strawberry jam on it.

When she saw Sirius sit opposite her she tried to catch his eye but he was pointedly ignoring her presence, it didn't take a genius to see that he was still upset about their argument yesterday. She gave up and turned back to eating her toast. She felt Remus gently nudge her side and turned towards him repressing an annoyed growl. She felt his eyes rake over her dishevelled appearance, from her wrinkled clothes to the bags under her eyes to the poorly glamoured bruise on her cheek. She could hear the clogs working in his head and was given confirmation when he nodded towards the Slytherin table, where Lucius was currently killing her with his eyes. She gave Remus a weary smile a small tired shrug; she knew that he knew but was certain he wouldn't tell.

The gossip mill in the hall promptly stopped when the morning post arrived, bringing with it darker news than any would have liked. A large brown tawny owl landed gracefully in front of Lily, who took the newspaper and gave it a rash of bacon, for it hard journey, before sending it back on its way. Hermione watched as Lily read, her hands began to shake and her eye's began to well up, she finally let out a strangled cry and threw the news paper down face up on the table when she'd finished reading. Wandering what had prompted such a violate reaction from the normally stable girl Hermione scanned the newspapers heading.

'DEATH EATERS ATTACK MUGGLE VILLAGE, DOZENS DEAD.'

Hermione looked back at Lily who was now weeping in James's arms, her own eyes began to sting from the sheer force of Lily's emotions, but no tears fell. She looked around the hall and noted that half of the occupants, the muggle half, had had similar reactions to Lily's. She looked up towards the professors table only to find the headmasters eyes were already on her, as if he were asking if she knew this would happen. She gave him a sincere shake of her head, and turned back to her breakfast; she wasn't able to bear the look pain in his eyes. Of course she had known that it was round about now that Voldemort had started to come out in the open, but she had no idea of specific dates for attacks, there were far too many for one person to know.

The weather must have sense the sombre change in the castles residents, for it took on the appearance of dull grey clouds from which rain lashed down for the remainder of the day. Lessons consisted of individual work that was easy enough for a first year, the teachers reasoned that they needed something to keep their minds occupied and wouldn't cause them stress. Hermione thought that it was an overreaction to the news but then she remembered that for her it meant nothing more than another attack, but to them it was the start of a war, one which they dreaded to think about and one which they weren't prepared for. As every hour came and passed students and teachers alike grew drained and wanted nothing more than the solace of their beds.

Hermione too would have welcomed the thought of night time slumber but all that came within her sleep were night terrors. So while every resident Gryffindor was tucked away in bed she was in the common room staring heatedly at the book. _Just reach over and open it, seriously what's the worst that could happen?... oh I don't know, maybe I would land another twenty years back in the past... come on you know that's not going to happen, it would have sent you there in the first place if that's what it wanted. Just open it for crying out loud, you promised you would. _Hermione cut herself off from the argument she was having with herself. She was right, she had promised herself last night in the astronomy tower that she would put everything she had into finding a way back to her own lifetime. If that meant that she had to start with this book, this nondescript evil book of _his_ and apparently her own, then so be it. She reached over to pick it up but in a moments hesitations she flexed out her fingers above it in the moonlight, then grabbed it forcibly in both hands. She was just about to lift the cover when she heard a voice behind her.

"You've been looking at that book as if it's going to murder you." She gave a light hearted chuckle and watched Sirius come around the sofa to sit beside her on it.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it did. What are you doing up anyway? I thought you went to bed hours ago?" She tried to steer the subject away from herself and the book but from the look in the boys eyes he would have none of it.

"I did but I couldn't sleep, there was this little voice in my mind telling me to haul my arse up and come down here. So what's with the book then Granger?" Hermione raised her eyebrow at the use of her last name, and the fact that he didn't recognise the book. She turned it over in her hands so he could see it properly.

"You don't recognise it Black?" He squinted his eyes and searched the cover, when he was finished with his inspection he shook his head.

"No, even in this poor light I'd still be able to recognise book if it was important to me. why? Should I be able to recognise it?"

"It's important to me and no, I don't suppose you should be able to recognise it." She concentrated on his face. "It's the book that you found when I appeared in Grimmauld Place, do you remember it now?" She watched his face light with understanding, he was probably recalling the information from the story she had told himself and Headmaster Dumbledore.

"This is_ THE_ book." She gave him a nod. "Well what are you waiting for? Open it up, let's solve this mystery." She gave him another nod and went to lift the cover; her hand was shaking betraying her trepidation of it. Sirius must have noticed because in the next second she felt his hand slip into her free one and he silently moved closer. With his courage settling on top of her own she lifted the lid. No hell portal opened, no ferocious beast jumped out at her, not even a mouse stirred in the silence; she let out the breath she'd been holding in.

She noticed Sirius looking at the bottle and she instantly snatched it from it resting place, it's not that she didn't trust Sirius; she just didn't want his curiosity to get the best of him. She herself had yet to find out was the memories were, and was pretty sure she never wanted to, let alone let him take a peek at them. He made no comment of the action, instead opting to read the words that were forming on the inside cover. They were the same as the first time so she just listened to him read.

_**"In war you'll find a time of peace, with the loss of others comes new release. A beginning of new life, a beginning without strife"**_ He gave an abrupt Snort, to which Hermione gave him a questioning look.

"You haven't had a moment's peace or a day without strife since you got here." Her eyes grew wide, prompting him to explain what he meant. "Oh come off it Hermione, Remus wasn't the only one to notice your appearance this morning. The bruise on your cheek, the bags under your eyes, Malfoys attack and him sending death rays towards you at breakfast. It doesn't take a genius to work out what happened." Her eyes filled with guilt at the memory of last night.

"I'm sorry Sirius I know I should have listened to you but you've got to understand that I need my freedom and that I can defend myself against far worse people than Lucius Malfoy."

"It's okay, I realise that I was being overbearing but I just wanted to protect you. So what happened last night then?" She smiled at him but in the next instant her eyes grew as dark as the night that lay outside, and she turned back to the book.

"I'd rather not talk about it; let's just concentrate on the task at hand." She gave a loud snort at her own words, "not that I even know what help this book is going to be, I think more than anything I just wanted to confront it"

"Okay well start with the basics: 1- what promise is it that this mentions? 2- Who does the writing belong to?" She decided to answer the latter question first.

"'_**The secrets you hold are still meant to be untold; you'll know when to look when you pass through the fold.' **_that's my writing, though needless to say I can't remember writing it; probably due to the fact that I haven't written it yet. The other script belongs to somebody who I know, thought I'm not telling you their name and before you go into the whole 'not trusting you' speech, it has nothing to do with trust I just don't feel ready to tell you ,as it would lead to other questions that I can't answer." She saw her words work their way around Sirius's mind, when it was processed he gave a little nod that she was thankful for.

"The poem is a different matter as I know not of whom it belongs to." Sirius gave another nod. "The promise eludes me at the moment also, as this person has never made me a promise, and I'd never expect them to either."

"And the bottled memory? I suppose you haven't looked yet?" She gave a shake of her head and he understood that somehow she knew it wasn't time yet. "Well then I guess we can't get any further with it until you do, so we'll just have to let everything play out until the time comes. Pack up and go to bed?" the both agreed and began to pack up her belongings. Once they had finished they climbed up their respective star cases.

"Hey Black!" she shouted back down and waited for his reply, noting how her voice echoed through the now soulless common room.

"Yeah Granger?"

"Thank you." She could almost see and feel his smile through the layers that divided them and it solidified her want to always be his friend, and the need to do anything that would save him. She needed no other acknowledgement than that feeling, so she scuttled up the stairs and headed to her bed. She had no illusions that she'd sleep peacefully for the next 4 hours but she resigned herself to it and let the demons invade her dreams with ease.

* * *

**Authors Notes-** As I have writers block on nearly all of my other stories (on this site and others) I decided to update this one, which I originally started when I had a bad case of 'I-Can't-Be-Arsed-To-Write-Anything-Else'. So long story short; this has become my writers block story. But if you wish it so I will continue to update this regularly.

Review if you'd like to. (I hate people who just read and never review –I'm one of those people though-)


	9. One of us, one of them

**DISCLAIMER**: All characters, settings, objects, creatures, spells and potions are the property of **J. K. Rowling**. I refuse to acknowledge that 'Deathly Hallows' was ever written, let alone published.

**Authors Notes- **Sorry it took me so long to update this. I had a chapter written out but then I deleted it in a fit of rage... It didn't come out anything like how I imagined it. So here's the second version of chapter 9!

**Chapter Nine: One of us, one of them**

As Hermione crept silently in the shadows of the castle halls she was overwhelmed by that fact that this teenage boy couldn't hold a flame to his older counterpart. If it had been her professor that she was stalking then he would have noticed her before she'd even took her first step, but this boy seemed too lost by what was in front of him to even think about his back. She momentarily wondered when and how it was that he became as paranoid, though more controlled, as Mad Eye Moody, and then her mind returned to the events of that day and reason as to why she was currently Severus Snapes' second shadow.

_It had been a welcome sight to finally see the sun rise, that morning, after hours of staring into the darkness waiting for an acceptable time to leave her bed. She'd been dreadfully tired after she'd left Sirius last night, but still she had only managed to rack up 3 hours of erratic sleep. She slipped into the bathroom and took a much need cleansing and refreshing shower, got dressed and pulled on her uniform. Hermione had never been one for healing superficial wounds so she had yet to use the bruise salve Remus had discreetly pushed into her palm sometime yesterday evening, so as she looked at her reflection in the mirror she could still see Lucius' fist shaped bruise on her cheek, though it had calmed down rapidly, it was still noticeable. She picked up her wand and muttered a glamour; it was a testament to her body's lack of energy that she couldn't even perform a decent glamour, it had just made the bruise more of a pink colour rather than her natural pale skin tone, and she was sure that even that would wear off as the day wore on. She didn't think on it for a second longer as she headed down towards the great hall for an extremely early breakfast, the only other occupants in the hall were a few startled house elves cleaning the floor; they probably seldom saw a student up and about at 5am. She gave them a short smile before settling in at the end of the Griffindor table and pulling out this generation's version of 'Hogwarts, a History'. She stayed there until the first patter of student feet and hushed conversations could be heard._

_After the complete lack of educational structure yesterday Hermione had been glad for things to be back to some semblance of normal. The lessons were informative and called for sharp minds, the teachers were back to wanting nothing but perfection and the students no longer had red puffy tear stained faces. It didn't take a genius to see that the balance was still fragile though, and even Hermione who'd only had 3 hours of sleep in the past 2 days could feel it sitting heavy in the air. She'd noticed that when the muggle students smiled that it didn't quite reach their eyes and that they would cling onto friends as if it was hard to stand. Hermione knew that it was hard for them all to take it in but she just seemed to grow more and more agitated at their lack of strength and will power; even Lily who Hermione knew to be strong would refuse to let go of James hand unless it was necessary. Sure, she was glad that she could witness the acts that were forming the foundations of their love, but if this was the price the world had to pay then Hermione was beginning to doubt if it was worth it._

Hermione slithered into the next alcove and was careful not to make a sound, she wasn't sure if even the slightest rustle of her cloak would alert Snape to her presence, but she didn't want to take any chances.

_The moment Defence against the Dark Arts finished Hermione headed down to the lower levels of the castle for her last class of the day. Potions. In all the commotion of the last few days she hadn't had the chance to speak to Snape about her request. She hoped that he'd remembered because she wouldn't be able to handle another lesson with Frank Longbottom as her partner, she actually had her sights set on passing this class, regardless of the century. She'd found her way down to the potions classroom before the majority of the class, and as she stood in the doorway she was slightly confused to find the last names of students burnt into the air above paired off desks. Her eyes immediately sought out her own name; she gave a sigh when she saw his name next to it. As she made her way to sit down the flicker of red hair caught her eye and she saw Lily sitting next a smug looking girl. Her heart silently went out to the Lily in a moment of weakness; Lily caught her eye and gave a weary frown, Hermione gave her an encouraging smile in return. She pulled out her potions text book and waited for the class to fill up._

_The boy didn't even acknowledge her when he slipped into the seat next to her. She began to feel the coldness wash off him and latch onto her skin immediately. From her peripheral vision she could see that he sat rigidly with his back straight, facing forwards and a cover devoid of emotion settled upon his face. She wanted desperately to ask him what was wrong but as soon as she opened her mouth Professor Levesque took it upon herself to start the lesson, all Hermione managed to get out was some kind of chocked splutter._

_It was a lecture about Veritaserum. Hermione easily blocked her annoying voice out, she had learnt this potion off heart years ago, and she didn't particularly feel like learning it again. Letting her eyes wonder round the room she scanned over Lily, who was currently scribbling furiously in her notebook; Hermione thought that she and lily were so alike. Well at least that was what Hermione used to be like, now her school persona was nothing but a perfected act. She found it so effortless to transform into that overexcited, overachieving, know-it-all, blushing school girl. These people around her would never know her true self, the fierce warrior with a broken soul that had been a by-product off joining The Order and fighting in a war made by adults to be ended by children. Even Sirius who was her confident in this world would never understand if she let him see that side of her, she wouldn't put that weight on his shoulders, even if it meant the death of her._

She waited until he'd made it in front of an abandoned classroom and in a blur of movement too fast for any girl her age she grabbed him and thrust him into the room and intentionally slammed his back against the wall in a painful crack. She didn't care if he was hurt so she ignored his groan, quickly removed his wand from his arm sheath and tossed it across the room far out of his reach.

"_Miss Granger, are you so well versed in this subject that you feel no need to listen while I'm trying to help you? What, pray tell, has captured your interests more than my class?" Hermione snapped towards the teacher and could feel the deliberately placed heat rise to her cheeks and made sure that it would be there for a while. She numbly tried to stutter out some kind of excuse but to no avail. "Well, Miss Granger, either you take an active part in my lessons or you get out. Am I understood?" She gave a quick steady nod at the women's ultimatum. "What are the known effects of Veritaserum, Miss Granger?"_

"_Veritaserum__ is a powerful truth serum that is most commonly used for interrogation on dark wizards." She made a show of looking towards where Malfoy sat; he seemed to take pleasure in the fact that she'd finally realized he was 'dark'. "The potion effectively forces the drinker to answer any questions put to them truthfully. __Veritaserum__ is clear, colourless, and odourless and is almost indistinguishable from water. It can be mixed with any drink, and three drops is a sufficient dose to make the drinker spill out their innermost secrets. It can be resisted through different methods, including Occlumency, but many still find this method to no avail. Due to the difficulty of this potion it must be left to mature for a full lunar phase or it will be rendered useless. Use of this potion is strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic." She finished with a slight sneer on her lips; she'd remembered when Umbridge had used it on all the D.A. members. Professor __Levesque gave no house points; she just nodded and told everyone to start the preparation of the potion. _

_Hermione gathered the ingredients while Snape got the utensils; including the cauldron. She handed half the jars and vials to Snape and started to chop, slice and grind the appropriate things. For the next twenty minutes they worked in silence, neither wanting to assess the tension sudden tension he had with her. When he'd finished stirring in the current ingredients they both sat down and waited for the 10 minute resting time to pass. Hermione finally having enough of the silence turned towards him and decided on the direct approach._

"_Did you ask her if we could be partnered?" She waited for an answer, after a minute of him ignoring her it finally came out in a harsh whisper._

"_No. I didn't need to she was already going to put us together." She didn't know how she felt but whatever it was that she was feeling it was welling up in her chest to a great degree. _

"_Why are you acting like a pompous prick?" He made no effort to look or answer her, so she tried to get his attention by placing a delicate hand of his arm. It worked. He spun round to her so quickly that Hermione could fell the wind whip around them both as if it were a mini tornado. The look she saw on his face made her forget herself momentarily. He looked disgusted at the sight of her, and if Hermione hadn't been trained to read further into facial expression then she would have took it for just that. But as it stood Hermione was trained in this art so it took her less than two seconds to realise that he was disgusted at the sight of her but the disgust was directed at himself more than at her. She had no need to use her Legilimency to know why; it just clicked in her brain like a puzzle piece fitting together. She lost all control as she gave out a sharp throaty gasp._

_The classroom faded away into nothingness, all that remained was herself and the haunted look in his obsidian eyes_

_Slowly, almost painfully, she lifted her hand to her cheek and fragilely, as if it would burn to touch, she skimmed her fingers over the air that stood before the fading bruise currently marring her perfectly flawless porcelain skin. In the next second her mind snapped back to the world around her bringing her masks of normalcy back into place with it. She simply turned back to her desk, picked up her knife and promptly began slicing the June bug wings, as if it were the most important thing in the world. Inside her mind had been reeling with accusations and finding the perfect way to confront him later. She'd ignored his presence by her side for the remained of the class, a blessing he'd seem only too eager to accept. _

So here she stood with him backed up against the dusty wall of damp classroom on the first floor. It took him less than seconds to catch up with what had happened and his face quickly contorted into a picture of fierce aggression. The temperature noticeable dropped at both of their hostility.

"What the fuck do you think you're playing at Granger?!" The room fell silent at his question; the only thing her senses picked up on was his extremely heavy, agitated breathing. The silence lingered and when he sensed she wouldn't answer he became more and more agitated. She knew how he worked, more than anything he despised insubordination and it was sure to fire him up. He took looming steps towards where she stood defiant on the spot, all the while throwing demeaning comments at her.

"Have you got a questionable mental state Granger? Or are you just that stupid that you can't fathom out how to answer a simple question? How dare you lay your filthy hands on me and shove me in here like some hormonal driven school girl? Do you want a quick fuck up the wall? Is that it?" He stopped to give her a quick once over, when he came to her face she meet his eyes with her own. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I don't touch soiled goods."

She broke, every last piece of her resolve broke and her eyes burnt with such intensity that he took a protective step back. She was too quick for him though; she grabbed the front of his school robes in both hands and slammed him back against the wall. It was harder than last time but he had the good sense not to make a noise. She levelled her face with his, their noses touching at the tips, and when she raved at him it was with pure menace.

"Who the fuck do you think you are not to tell me?! It's your duty as one of us to warn me, and you couldn't even get past your own nose to screw up the courage to do it!" Her lungs protested with the need to breathe so she dragged in the air as if it was freezing her insides on the way down. She could feel her magic welling up around her and by his audible gulp it had started to manifest itself around her like a cloak of shadows and nightmares.

"Do you get some kind of sick kick out of seeing other people in pain?! Is that it? You Slytherin bastards you're all the same; too self important to care about others. Not enough courage to help the people that will one day save your very lives!" The dust ridden desk around them began to tremble; she was too far gone to notice it. "If I had been some helpless weak girl I would have ended up like a broken doll, and you would have been to coward to stop it!"

"I am not COWARD!" he'd finally snapped as her words hit him like a loaded bullet.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me then?" Her voice had risen to the screech of a banshee and if it had been possible he would have taken a step back further into the wall. She disentangled her fists from his robes and took a controlled step away from him. The anger was gone and when she spoke again it was in a cracked whisper.

"You knew, and you didn't tell me." Her eyes filled with salty tears that she refused to let fall; she'd rather die before she became a little girl, hiding in a corner, sobbing and helpless.

His mouth opened and closed several times as if excuse after excuse wasn't good enough, and the truth was that they weren't. She waited for him to talk first; he needed to for she would wait out the whole night if he didn't. The words he spoke cut her like a knife.

"I'm sorry" he breathed it softly but she felt as if he'd physically punched her in the gut and she took two stumbling trips backwards.

"No. You don't have the right to feel guilty. Gods, just looking at you makes me sick. You're just as bad as Lucius. Do you know what he tried to do?" she saw his back stiffen in horror, but she proceeded to tell him, it was what he deserved. "'You will respect you betters wench...' 'You'll be screaming by the end of this night' he said. Tried to force himself on me, tried to rape me against the wall, for God's sake. Crucioed me till I bit through my own skin. Didn't even have the decency to attack me by himself, took his two fuck headed goons along for the ride as well."

"You tell me how you think it's acceptable to let that happen to one of us Snape? Tell me how you deemed it not necessary to tell me?!"

"I didn't know he was going to go that far. I thought maybe he'd just try to trick and scare you. I tried to tell you but you became defensive and you said you could handle yourself, I didn't doubt that, so I just..."

"... Took my words at face value." She finished for him calmly. He gave a shaky nod of his head, and Hermione finally understood that this boy wasn't one of them, one of the good guys. He was walking on the line of finding himself, not knowing what the light and the dark really stood for, not understand what either really meant. She'd been thinking of him as her professor, the elegant man who she'd been taught more things than potions by, hell, if she was honest with herself she wasn't even sure what to think about that man anymore. Every bone in her body told her that he was a good man, but the act he had performed that frightful night made her vision of him lean towards the darkness.

She shook her head clear of them thoughts and focused on the awkward pale boy in front of her. _He's probably already taken the dark mark, and he doesn't even know what it stands for. Doesn't know how much he's destroyed his life._

She looked him over and noticed that his hands were shaking, she was the reason for it and she felt terrible for it. She pushed all thoughts of anger and of Malfoy to the castle in her mind; where she kept dark memories, and tried to lighten the mood in the room.

"Merlin, how does one even manage to cast an unforgivable inside the hallways of Hogwarts?" she let out a throaty chuckle and if Severus was taken aback by her sudden change then he didn't show it. If anything he'd seem to have become more defensive than when she'd been shouting at him. His face had become like ice; cold and hard, his body posture took on that of a plank of wood; solid and straight. The words he spoke were serious and cut away any lightness she'd tried to create.

"As nice as this little attack of yours was Granger I have prior engagements to be getting on with, goodnight" She watched him skulk away from her, pick up his wand from the other side of the room where she'd chucked it and stride out of the classroom without a look back towards her. She could practically hear him erecting up his steel barriers once again. Letting out a small sigh Hermione looked around the abandoned room and noticed several of the desks had splintered into piles off wood. She'd not realised how angry she'd been, but it must have been pretty frightening for Snape to watch her magic ooze from her body and destroy the surrounding area, no wonder he'd been profusely sweating.

She fixed the desks, put them all back in order and swept from the room. As she made her way from staircase to staircase back to the Gryffindor common room she'd realised how draining the past three nights had been. Her body felt as if were a lead weight as she crawled through the fat ladies' portrait and collapsed on the sofa in between Remus and Sirius. Her mind, eyes and ears didn't stay awake long enough to hear their worried words or gentle looks of concern from them.

-.-.-.-

Sirius looked to Remus and noticed the same worried look plastered all over his face. He looked back to the girl whose bushy brown head had lolled to the side and now rested on his own shoulder. He gently tried to place her upright again but the girl just fell back onto him again.

"Hermione, wake up. If you're going to go to sleep then you need to go upstairs into your bed." He looked to Remus with pleading eyes. The boy just gave a little chuckle and moved to scoop the girl in his arms; it was Lily however that stopped his movements.

"Don't move her; the poor thing must be exhausted, if she feels comfortable enough to sleep then you should let her." Sirius noticed Lily's green eyes had become shiny with tender tears and her voice took on the sound of pain.

"We just wanted to move her up to her bed; she'd be more comfortable up there. Besides she can't be that tired, she goes to bed earlier than any of us most nights." Sirius didn't mean to sound harsh but it was the truth, the only time he'd known Hermione not to be in bed was last night when he'd come down to the common room and sat with her.

"Yes, she goes upstairs to bed but she doesn't sleep." Sirius quirked a worried eyebrow towards Lily and the girls' eyes became more tearful as she reached out a hand towards Hermione's cold one. "She just curls up in the covers and pretends to be asleep and the little hours of sleep she does get..." Lily made let out a chocked sob "...gods, you should hear her Sirius." A stray tear fell from her eye and Sirius became stiff with worry.

"I've never heard anything like it, it's like she's being tortured time after time. I don't know what goes on in her mind and I hope I never do. If the other girls and I didn't place a silencing charm around her bed then there's no doubt that she'd wake up the entire tower. It's just heart wrenching to hear her cries of pain." Sirius unconsciously grasped both girls' hands; He didn't know which one to be more worried for. "Please Sirius just allow her an hour or two of sleep with somebody by her side to protect her."

"It's okay Lily, I'll stay up with her for as long as it takes. Why don't you two go to bed?" he gave the green eyed girls hand a reassuring squeeze, then let it go.

"Thank you Sirius, she'll be ever so appreciative for it. Just don't tell her that I told you, I think it's kind of embarrassing for her." With that the girl brushed the tears away and with a quick squeeze of Remus' shoulder, to remind him not to tell Hermione either, she was off up to her own night of rest.

Sirius waited for Remus to get up and go to bed. He didn't, so Sirius turned to him with the question of why in his eyes.

"Is there something you're not telling us Sirius? Something about Hermione?" Sirius looked over the boys face and his brain told him that Remus was a smart boy and would work it out sooner or later, but it was neither his place nor his wish to tell the boy himself. If Hermione ever told Remus then that was her business alone.

"I think that is something you should ask Hermione herself, Remus." Sirius brushed the girls' locks with his fingers in a sign of protectiveness. Remus looked between the sleeping figure and his best friend, he knew there was something off about how this girl had just shown up out of the blue and for the moment he'd drop the subject, but he wouldn't lay it to rest indefinitely. He gave a small nod to Sirius and leaned over to kiss Hermione on her forehead.

"Take care of her Sirius; I'll be upstairs if you need me at all during the night." With one last look towards the sleeping girl he left the near empty common room behind him and ascended the stairs to the seventh year boys' dormitory. Sirius watched him leave only to be reminded of the girl in his arms as she started to whimper and tremble as if some invisible nightmare began to take its hold on her. Sirius took out his wand and with a flick the lights lowered their blaze, he shuffled them both around to a more comfortable position and wrapped both arms around her hoping she would calm down.

He fell asleep 3 hours later, at 3:30am, just as she began to drift back into consciousness.

**--Break--**

She tried to look anywhere but into his eyes as he stared at her with zero twinkles and one hundred percent shame. The spiky oval object, sitting in one of the display cases behind him, had suddenly become very interesting indeed. This whole talk had been more awkward than the time she had had to explain to Harry and Ron why she needed to go and collect a potion from Madame Pomfrey on the exact same day every month.

"I give you my endless apology Miss Granger, had I known before that Mr Malfoy was executing this kind of despicable behaviour I would have had him expelled from the school already. I shall get onto it now; I promise he will be removed from the grounds by tonight." Her head snapped up at his elderly voice, his concern touched her as if he was her father; which he practically had been since she was eleven years old.

"You can't expel him without it going to trial Headmaster and seeing as I am in no position to testify against him it simply cannot be done. I only came here to warn you that the wards have failed to stop Unforgivables being cast."

"Something shall be done to prevent any further use of these spell Miss Granger, you can rest assured that I can at least fix that problem." The silence began to grow between them again and Hermione fixed her eyes back onto the spiky oval as she spoke. This was a strictly business meeting and Hermione refused to acknowledge the tenderness he was showing towards her, as if she was a bruised and battered rag doll in need of love.

"I have yet to gather any information about the Horcruxs or a way to get myself home. Have you had any luck?"

"I'm afraid I haven't fared any better than you, Miss Granger. I have enlisted the help of a friend of mine and he has sworn to make it his top priority. 'Anything to help the great Albus Dumbledor' I think were his exact words, being famous does have its bonuses Miss Granger." The hearty smile that he gave her stabbed her like a knife. An image of baby harry with a fresh lightning scar crossed her mind.

"Being famous also has its down falls Headmaster, and I'd imagine that they far outweigh the good." She placed her tea cup on the desk in front of and grabbed her bag off the floor, ready to leave. "I'm sorry headmaster I would have came to see you yesterday but it didn't see like the right time for anybody. I apologise. Now I really should be off to class, have a nice day, Sir." Had she looked back at the elderly man sitting behind his desk she would have noticed an army of emotions cross him face for the briefest of instants. Albus watched the door click behind her back and he wilted back into his chair suddenly feeling the years of his age catch up to him.

"We'll have to keep an eye on Miss Granger, Fawkes, she may be the undoing of this war." In response to the man's words the bird cried a beautiful song before bursting into brutal flames.

**--Break--**

The next day in the potions room Hermione and Severus had come to some kind of silent pact of quietness. They were nothing to each other, not friends, not enemies and for that Hermione was thankful. After all, being a nothing was for more promising than being a rival, for if this boy when turned man was going to be writing poems and letters in books to her then they needed some stable ground to form it all on. Right?

Hermione found with this new nothingness between them that they worked in unison exceedingly well. They were purely two great minds working on that which they loved. Their movements were in sync as well as their timing, there was no need for words or questioning looks.

* * *

**Authors Notes- **Before you startthrowing rocks at me I have this to say (caution, rant to follow):- I see Hermione who is somebody very much in control of her emotion and masks and the personas she shows others, it just to her a while to settle herself into a different world. Malfoys attack got her mind in check and gave her a wakeup call, but like any human she has her limits and will break. Also, considering that I have ignored Deathly hallows, if it isn't clear yet, Hermione, Harry and Ron went under intensive training during their summer at Grimauld place. They learned Occlumency, expert defensive sessions, physical training, wandless magic sessions etc. Basically they learnt everything they could possible need to defend themselves against physical and mental attacks, other order members taught them e.g. Remus, Moody, Kingsly.

Help a forlorn writer out and review please?


	10. Fear That Binds All But One

_**DISCLAIMER**__:__After much deliberation between me and Jo we've finally come to the agreement that everything from the 'Potter' universe belongs to her. Unfortunately for me I drew the short straw and have resigned myself to the fact that I gain no royalties from this story._

**Chapter Ten: Fear That Binds All But One.**

It had been three uneventful weeks since she'd crawled her way into the common room and fell asleep on Sirius shoulder, and contrast to her naive exterior, she had noticed the curious glances and the subtle hints Sirius had been giving her. She'd ignored him, so far, in favour of the far greater problem known as Remus Lupin.

She had seen every mistrusting stare he'd directed at her and read every calculating thought about her; he'd hardly been subtle about either action. Thus, she was thankful that it was Thursday evening and the only occupants in the common room consisted of herself, Sirius and Remus. Everyone else was tucked up in bead dreaming of their fairytales. Well everyone except Peter, who was plotting the murder of his friends in cold blood, or so Hermione distastefully liked to think.

If she was going to have this conversation then she'd rather not have it all out at once with the whole gang; they would ask too many questions and wouldn't understand the answers. But if Remus was going to be the one to find out first then she'd resigned herself to that fate. She'd been reading the sandy blond haired boys mind for the past ten minutes and he'd waged a full blown out war with himself on the issue of whether to bring up the subject or not. Hermione, from the growing pain of a headache, decided for him and broke the silence surrounding their 'study' group.

"Just ask me Remus" she snapped her head up from the potions text laying before her in time to see the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look smeared all over the boys open face. When their eyes connected he quickly wiped his face clean and mimicked her by dropping all pretence of doing assignments. After a moment of silence, she regarded the curious stare she was receiving from Sirius and focused back on Remus.

"You've practically been screaming at me for the better part of a month for some kind of attention. Well now you've got it, so just ask me and let's get this over with." She massaged her temples trying to ward of the unwanted headache.

To his credit Remus didn't stammer and create incoherent sentences, when he spoke it was clear and precise.

"Who are you?" Hermione had to stop the small smile from forming on her lips. It was such a simple question that was riddled with more complicated ones. Hermione determined the best way to answer it was with a simple answer.

"Hermione Jean Granger."

"Don't give me that bull Granger, you know very well what I meant. Tell me who you are, now." Suffice to say that Remus didn't appreciate her version of casualness. She gave an audible sigh and turned towards Sirius who looked at her with panic written on his face. Before she could give him a look to stop his outburst the words had already poured from his mouth like water cascading over the edge of a waterfall.

"No Hermione don't tell him. Please?" Her eyes softened as if explanation of her actions to follow. She knew that he liked being the only one to know her secret, it was their bond and she was about to break it. But if anything this was more for Sirius than herself. She couldn't care less about what Remus thought about her but she knew it was killing Sirius (though she wasn't sure if Sirius himself knew it yet), to have to keep her secret behind steel bars. He was the type of person who thrived on conversation of the unknown and plotting ways to be in the know, something that Hermione refused to do just by never answering his questions. She hoped that Remus would be able to help him with that. Before she turned back to Remus she took the moment to bathe in the love, fear and understanding Sirius was giving off. He had always been one to accept her actions and love her all the same for them. Once again she was reminded of what she would lose in the future and it tore at her heart.

With a flick of her wand she cast a quick _Muffliato_ around the three of them; she knew only too well that there could be all types of rats and bugs hidden in the shadows of Hogwarts.

"My name is Hermione Jean Granger, I was born October 12th 1979, and I've been attending Hogwarts since I was eleven." She was expecting some momentous uproar of fear, mistrust, anger and everything in-between. What she wasn't expecting was the resounding silence that met the end of her words. As the seconds trickled on by Hermione grew more and more unsettled, she decided to give him the time he needed to process what she'd just confessed and come to a logical conclusion. She picked up her forgotten text book and began to read the remainder of the paragraph on _'Scintillation Solution'_.

"How do you know Sirius then? You arrived with him to the train station; therefore you must know him somehow." Remus had always been one to ask all the right questions.

She took a moment to think of the best way to answer him. She could say that she would know him in the future but that would bring up the question of Lily, James and, ugh, Peter. She could easily blag her way through that one though; she'd heard enough stories and tales about them all to piece together a half truth.

"I've know Sirius since my third year, he's been like a big brother to me ever since." She felt Sirius eyes on her, this was new information to him; he knew that they would meet in the future but he knew no specifics on the matter. She remembered the day they first met each other as if it were her favourite movie. She could remember every symbol and foreign word written across the mad mans bare chest, his prison shirt in tatters as it hung around his skeletal frame. She could remember the feeling of rage welling up in her chest as she watched her trusted professor Lupin embrace the escaped convict and she could hear her outcry of mistrust as if it were the perfect background symphony to the memory.

She battled to stop the sadness flitter across her face. She hadn't time to linger on it however as Remus was on point again and giving her the third degree of interrogation.

"You know me as well don't you? I've noticed it in your eyes every time you look at me. I don't know how to explain it, but there is something there for the briefest of moments before you push it away."

_Sorrow, is the word you're looking for Remus;_ came her minds dry inner monologue. _Sorrow for what you'll lose and never gain._

"You always were the observant one Remus." she didn't smile at him for it seemed to be inappropriate in her mind. "You will be my professor in the future; that is how I will come to know you. After that I will know you out of school as well." She became slightly perplexed as Remus' face grew pink with embarrassment, and then lose its colour completely in the next instant. Her answer came in the form of Sirius' deep voice.

"Moony you bloody pervert. Honestly using your position to take advantage of young students, I would never think you capable of such an atrocity. You sick bastard." She nearly blanched at the thought of her Remus being that way with a young girl of only 13, the boy in question was obviously thinking the same as he exposed his canines to Sirius and growled at him like the wolf he was.

"NO! No, no, no, Remus you were the most respected teacher in the entire school, you were the best teacher we ever had. You would never do anything like that at all, I'm sorry if I made it sound that way, I apologise it was never my intention." She couldn't hear Remus acceptance for Sirius took the moment into his quarters.

"Whoa, this is not fair. How come you're answering all of his questions but you refuse to answer mine?" he gave a split second to answer before he stole it back and continued on with his rant. "I think I deserve some answers, after all I'm the one who knew first. Like tell me how we meet. Now that I think about it you promised me an answer once and I never got it. Remember? What did I ask? Oh now I remember. What is it like in the future? It's a simple question and I demand an answer!"

Hermione knew Sirius could act on impulse but this was pushing it too far. How dare he demand something he didn't deserve?

"Demand?! Demand! Sirius Black if I didn't love you as much as I do then what you just said would have been the last words to formulate from your mouth! And if you think that any question you or anybody else could pose to me would have a 'simple' answer then you are sorely mistaken! You think that if I had a choice I would choose to keep you in the dark? If I could I would sell my every possession, my body and my soul to warn you of every unfortunate mistake and event that will affect you." The words rolled of her tongue like frost creeping in a death filled graveyard; her chest was heaving with the effort of trying to remain in control. If the boys could have described her in that instant they would have said "dangerously truthful", and for that they would have wondered what could be so terrible that one little girl would have given her everything for.

Hermione looked to the hand resting on her forearm and shook of the instinct to pull away from Sirius. If he thought a simple gesture of penance was all it took then he was wrong.

The minutes ticked by in heavy silence with Sirius feeling guilty and ashamed, with Remus feeling as if his systems were on over load and with Hermione feeling detached. It wasn't the natural kind of detachment that came with shock or a surplus of emotions; it was magic. To be exact it was an Occlumency technique she had learned from Kingsly during her summer holidays, to cut off ones feeling from the brain, to push them away and find a strain of peace. It was something she knew she would rely upon in the coming months.

Hermione let herself restraint go and snapped back into the innocent and apologetic school girl role that she had mastered so well.

"I'm sorry Remus this was supposed to be about you. I shall try to answer both..." she gave a pointed look to Sirius "...of your questions if I can but know that when I refuse it is final. No if, buts' or maybes." The both nodded.

"So do the Chudley Cannons ever win the world cup? Because frankly I'm getting sick of losing bets all the time." Sirius gave her a cheeky, but unstable, grin. Hermione stroked his arm and shook her head solemnly. Sirius looked as if he'd been told his favourite aunt (if he'd ever had one) had just died. She hugged him and over his shoulder she mouthed the words 'payback' to Remus.

Had Hermione been paying more attention Remus all throughout the rest of the night then she would have noticed the worry that etched round his every smile, and had she read his mind she would have found the reason why. There was only one thing Remus wanted to know about but dare not ask.

_Did she know what he was? What he would become in 2 days time?_

**--Break--**

The last three weeks for Severus had been anything but a pleasure. He had been in a whirlwind of emotions, and none of them were the good kind. He ranged from rage to fury, regret to acceptance and from hatred to barely feeling anything at all. The only peace he could get came around four times a week in potions class, and if anyone else besides the Granger girl had been his partner then he would have hexed them three times over each lesson. It was his release from everything going on in the world outside and inside of his head and he was sure he'd have gone insane if he hadn't been allowed this one release due to the incompetence of some other student as his partner.

He had been called to his master (who he was seriously beginning to think of as nothing but a pain in the arse) more times than he could count on his fingers, which to Severus seemed like over kill in the top degree. They were only junior death eaters for Merlin's sake! But some of the things they'd been asked to witness and do at those reveals were horrendous. His body shivered at the memory of it... the blood, the screams, the blood... it was everywhere.

Every time the mark had burnt red hot on his flesh something in his soul snapped and he lost himself to the darkness that resided there. During those evenings that he'd been in attendance he had changed, grown up maybe, and he felt chained to it for the rest of his days; as if it were a stain he was unable to wash off. This wasn't what he signed up for when he had gone to Lucius asking for an in on the latest way to gain power. The only thing he desired from this 'Lord' was the power and he had yet to receive an iota of it.

He was stirred out of his nightmarish memories and thoughts as Granger whispered to him that the Veritaserum was complete.

"Do you want to bottle it up while I get Professor Levesque?" the girl had already begun to walk away without waiting for an answer. Severus noticed that her ridiculous hair had been pulled back into a tight messy bun and he found himself missing the sight of it bouncing all over the place as she walked; like it normally did when it was down. He'd barely had time to think twice about where that thought had come from as the Professor and Granger came back to their desk in the next second. They waited while Professor Levesque run her inspection on the potion, of course both students knew it was a trivial thing to do as both had never produced a potion that was less than perfect.

"Well everything seems to look fine, but there is only one way to be sure. Finish bottling it up and then we shall have a test run with it, if you both agree?" The professor waited for their nods before addressing the class to put their potions under stasis while his and Hermione's demonstration took place.

He chanced a look, only slight, as if only turning out of curiosity; it was definitely there, hardly noticeable but still definitely there. The slight hesitation as she picked up the Veritaserum and dropped it into the two conjured goblets of water, it told him that she wanted to do this no more than he himself did. She had secrets that she wished not to pour out in front of the student body. He stored that piece of information in his back catalogue of students; her file was looking more and more suspicious as the days wore on. He took the offered goblet out of Grangers hands and listened to the professor as she addressed them both.

"You'll take the potion and then you'll be asked two questions by me. The first of which will be a tester to make sure your telling the truth, then maybe after that a question or two from some of your fellow students?" Severus and Hermione locked eyes with each other and they both came to a silent agreement. Without realising it they had both just broke the barriers, which had been standing between them for the past three weeks, in a single glance.

"No, we would prefer to just be asked the two required questions from you." The professor looked slightly downtrodden at the refusal of being able to expose them to public humiliation, but agreed none the less. From the corners of his peripheral vision he noted the shining looks of excitement on some of the other student's faces. He looked back to the girl facing him on his right and watched as she bravely downed her goblet. He copied her and slammed his now empty goblet down on the table's surface. He felt the serum seep into his bloodstream and sneak its way up to his mind where it immediately began to fog up and take control. He tried to fight it off but it was to no avail as the Professor asked him one of the allotted two questions.

"What colour is Miss Grangers hair?"

"Normally it is a mousy brown but when it is up in a bun it becomes more of a rich chocolate brown. I like it best when it is down though because when it hits the light it shimmers golden-brown and brings out her other features." Severus could have seriously beaten himself up for that answer. He'd not forgotten that the potion not only made you answer truthfully but it also induced the need to explain that answer in detail. Before Hermione had the time to react to his answer it was her turn to be asked the first question.

"What colour is Mr Snapes hair?

"Midnight Black with subtle hints of natural dark blue, and contrast to popular belief it isn't greasy but more of a natural sheen" he watched her face for some mental reaction to her words but none was visible, she had no qualms about the answer. It was simply the truth.

"Second question," He watched as the Professors eyes lit up with exhilaration for the next question.

"Mr Snape, what are you most scared of?" In the seconds it took for his Veritaserum induced brain to seek out the answer his hands had become clammy and damp with sweat. The answer that came out was not what he had expected.

"That I'll amount to nothing more than a lowly used servant and never have what I truly desire"

_Well that wasn't too bad; at least I never mentioned his name. What I said could be construed in an academic way rather than a 'he-who-must-not-be-named' way._ He mentally cheered and patted himself on the back. _Grangers answer should be interesting._ He smirked and thought of all the childish fears she could have; failing a test, Spiders, clowns snakes, war, death all the things normal nightmares comprised of.

The one thing Severus Snape had forgotten to account for was the fact that Hermione was not a typical 'normal' teenager.

"What are you most scared of Miss Granger?" As the minute ticked by with no answer he became interested as to why. His eyes scanned her face for any sign of recognition to the question. What he saw he could only describe in one word.

Cold.

-.-.-.-

She heard Snapes response to the second question and she felt a stab of guilt towards him. If only he knew that he would always be a servant to not only Voldemort, but to Dumbledor as well. Both men would be his masters, only his true one was still uncertain to her. She looked out towards the other students; they murmured their agreement with Snape that they neither wanted to amount to nothing. There were only two other students in the room, beside herself, who recognised that what he said was in connection to the 'dark lord' and not in the scholarly sense.

The professor broke through her observations.

"What are you most scared of Miss Granger?" She was forced to think of scenario after scenario, each one more frightful than the last, but she found that she wasn't scared by them. Nothing seemed to provoke that fear in her like it would have been able to do to any other person.

The only childish fear Hermione had ever had was of heights but compared to everything she had witnessed in her short life a few feet upwards in the sky had become a mute point. She wasn't scared of war after living in one for most of her adult life, so far. She didn't fear death, not for herself or anybody she knew, she had seen far too many fall to think of it as anything other than a certainty. She had no fear of the men and women who bear the death eaters mark, she'd faced too many too often to not realise they were power hungry due to the fact that they had no actual power themselves. And there was no way from heaven to hell that she was scared of the man who called himself a 'Lord'. He was barely what you might call human and after seeing him reduced to nothing more than a face attached to another beings body, she had nothing to fear.

The answer hit her like an iceberg, her blood ran cold and her whole body froze.

"I am scared of nothing." She had tried desperately in the last seconds to force out a lie, but the Veritaserum hadn't allowed it. It was one hundred percent the truth. She wanted nothing more than to flee the room but her stubborn pride kept her rooted to the spot. She looked towards the other students who stood shocked to their cores; she chanced a glance towards Snape and was met with his suspicious eyes. She prayed that by some miracle they would all let it go and move on with the remainder of the class. She knew that her prayers would be in vain though, it wasn't everyday that you'd come across somebody who had no fear. Especially not a teenage girl.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger could you repeat what you are scared of again, I'm not quite sure I heard you correctly the first time." The professor's voice and her incessant questions were starting to grate on her every nerve.

'_No.'_she thought stubbornly, her mouth had other commands to follow though.

"I am not scared of anything Professor Levesque." The other students had apparently snapped out of it and began their gossip mill mouths.

"How can she not be...?"

"Is that even possible...?"

"Perhaps she's lying..."

"Maybe the potion didn't work..."

"Maybe she can rise above the effects of the potion..."

One voice stood out above them all, it was the shout of Professor Levesque telling them all to

"GET OUT! CLASS DISMISSED!" The students seemed only too keen to comply and with scratch of chairs against floor they were all disappearing through the door, leaving the lab vacated except for herself and Snape. He had a nasty scowl plastered over his features; it reminded Hermione eerily of his older counterpart. She almost gave an involuntary smile, almost.

Before she could begin to grasp what was happening she felt an iron hold on both of her upper arms, long nails dug into her soft skin and she was confronted with the penetrating dark eyes of her professor. Hermione knew what the woman was going to do before she had even instigated her first move. Their professor may have been fast but Hermione was nothing if not faster. Only once before had somebody forced entry to her mind; she liked it no more now than she did then. The pain was excruciating and if the pressure of the older woman's nails digging further into her skin was anything to go by then it was just as bad for the attacker as well as victim. Without thinking she pushed the pain away from her senses and erected barrier after barrier; each one as seamless and impenetrable as the last. It may not have been the smartest thing to do but it was an immediate reaction for her protection.

Hermione was overcome with the urge to laugh as she felt the woman's feeble attempts to infiltrate her mind because she knew it was pointless, there was no way to breakthrough unless you knew Hermione like you would know yourself. So, as much as Hermione knew she could play this game for hours and still be left with hundreds of barriers standing firm she just wasn't prepared to allow her professor to turn her own brain to nothing more than dead blood cells and an inanimate neuron highway.

She shoved the intruder from her mind and watched as the woman was thrown against the opposite wall, hit her head and fall unconscious.

"Bitch." She said, not caring as a flurry of black school robes flew past her and lean over the unconscious woman to check she was still alive, Hermione was positive she was for she could see the unsteady rise and fall of the professors' chest. Snape turned to glare at her; she stood unflinching and hard as a rock.

"What the hell was that Granger? For Merlin's sake you could have split her head open."

"That was me forcing her from my mind" _Oh crap!_ Apparently the Veritaserum was still in effect, but it was wearing off fast. Snape made no move other than the rise of his left eyebrow as if to say, _'No shit. I was here the whole time; I know what Legilimency and Occlumency looks like'_

"Don't you think we should get her to the nurse?" she gave a nonchalant shrug and answered him by moving towards the woman and putting her under a _'Levicorpus'_ charm with a flick of her wand.

"If we must." Before they left the classroom they both grabbed their belonging; Hermione discreetly took a vial of the serum from their workspace and shoved it in her robes pocket. _It might come in handy one day._She reasoned to herself.

They left the dungeons together and took the unconscious body with them to the infirmary. The halls were lifeless and bare, only the noises of their footsteps were keeping it alive. They walked in a thick silence only broken when they were mere feet from the infirmary doors.

"Were you lying?" Hermione subtly cranked her neck to look towards the boy. He wasn't looking anywhere but in front of his feet and Hermione would have swore she'd imagined him question her if it weren't for the slight stiffness in his jaw. He had changed so much in the past weeks; it was the understated things as he moved or when he would become distracted in class. It was the darkness creeping in. She gave him a brilliant genuine smile that caused his jaw to become tighter with repressed emotion.

He still had a long way to go.

"No. I honestly do not fear anything." They turned the corner and pushed the doors open. "Maybe by tomorrow I will, but for this moment I am not afraid."

No, he didn't understand her, but for a heartbeat, her braveness took his breath away.

They were greeted by the hustle and bustling Mediwitch known as Madam Pomfrey and were assaulted with questions from all directions, as soon as Hermione mention the word 'Legilimency' the witch made a sound similar to a cry, but not quite, and immediately began to perform advanced diagnostic spells over the professors brain.

Both students watched as one of the spells came out as an angry looking red puff of smoke, the Mediwitch turned to Hermione ready to pounce.

"What did you do Miss Granger?" Severus watched as the girl standing next to him answered in a perfectly controlled calm. Not a crack in her facade.

"She would not leave of her own free will so I had to push her out. Honestly, would you rather I have left her in my mind trying to get through walls she couldn't smash? She would have been hurt both ways; this was the lesser of the two." She made a gesture with her entire arm towards the woman laying unconscious on the bed. "Perhaps this school should make it clear to the teachers that it is not ok to mine rape helpless students. It's very painful and draining for both participants."

"I think, Miss Granger, that maybe you should lay down as well." All three turned around to see the long white bearded man walk towards them. He gave them all a shining grin. "How is our Professor, Poppy?"

"She shall be fine with a few hours bed rest Albus. No long term damage."

"Wonderful, Wonderful." He rested his hand atop of Hermione's shoulder "Miss Granger, please, go sit down on one of the beds, I shall be along in a moment."

She did as she was told but not before giving an indignant huff and a roll of her eyes, Severus noted.

"Mr Snape I thank you for your assistance with the professor; let's just keep this little incident between us five shall we? I fear the other students have much gossip to satisfy themselves with for now." He agreed to keep the past events to himself and left the hospital wing. He smirked to himself at the thought of Granger getting a privet tongue lashing from the Mediwitch and Dumbledore.

He would rather face the dark lord.

-.-.-.-

Hermione settled herself on the bed and slipped her outer robes off her shoulders. She was met with the sight of blood dripping down her arms, on both sides, from ten crescent moon shaped nail marks.

She quickly covered herself back up when she saw the headmaster walking towards her, Madam Pomfrey in toe.

She would rather face the dark lord, than this frail man and the harridan.

* * *

**Authors Notes-** Did anybody else feel totally awkward when I referred to Severus as 'Mr Snape'? It nearly killed me to write it, it felt so unnatural and uncomfortable, and I felt like I had butchered his character by calling him a 'Mr'.

**Side Note-** Is anybody buying _'Tales of Beedle the Bard'_ when it comes out or pre-order it? I was thinking about buying the deluxe edition, it's only £50.00. My reasoning is that it's for a good cause and I'll get something I want at the same time. Everybody wins?!

**Side Note #2 (fan girl moment to follow) - **Squeeeeeeeeeee! Have you seen the new 'Half Blood Prince' trailer that was released today? I literally screamed when the fight between Harry and Snape started. "FIGHT BACK YOU COWARD!"... With all this promotional stuff that _Warner Brothers_ are releasing it's just getting more and more frustrating that we have to wait until next summer.

_**Review... Please?**_


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